Being Different Sometimes is a Good Thing
by Phantom-Demon
Summary: Loki is on the run from Thanos, who believes the trickster has wronged him. Fleeing to Midgard, Loki is injured in an accident, and taken in by two girls while he recovers. He finds their family is not as normal as they seem. The Avengers, who are looking for Loki, discover that as well. With their aide, they just might be able to stop Thanos who is out to destroy the universe.
1. Chapter 1

**Well, I haven't been on Fanfiction in a while, but I have been obsessing over Avengers I just had to write one about it...or two or five...they're still all a work in progress. More may be coming if I feel they are decent enough to post. Anyway...here it is, and DISCLAIMER: I, sadly, do not own Avengers or anything related to it.  
**

**CHAPTER ONE**

In Asgard Thor spent days trying to get answers from his brother, Loki. No matter how he tried, Loki didn't say a word, instead just staring off into nothing, looking completely withdrawn. It just wasn't like his brother, to do what he had done in Midgard, so Thor was trying to get an explanation from him in hopes that his punishment would be less severe. Thor believed his brother was incapable of doing what he did, so he hoped there was someone else controlling the strings, but no matter how hard he tried, how long he asked, his brother never said a word. If Loki had said something though, it might have helped Asgard prepare for what was to come after him.

Thor was once again with his brother where he was being kept imprisoned, trying to speak with him when the ground began to shake and a cracking sound like stone breaking cut through the air. Just as Thor was about to leave to see what was going on, he saw Loki become even paler, a look of terror crossing his features.

"Do you know what is going on Loki?" Thor asked.

"Looks like you just might get your questions answered brother," Loki replied.

Thor stood there for a few seconds, waiting for Loki to say something when the ground rocketed beneath them, causing Thor to lose his footing and Loki to fall from his seat. There was another cracking sound, and as Thor whirled around to face it, there was someone standing there. He had the stature of a man, but his appearance was nothing similar to an Asgardian or Midgardian. His skin was a deep purple color, and he was _massive_. He seemed to look past Thor at Loki as he sneered.

"You disappointed me," he said, his voice deep and gravelly.

Thor raised his hammer and charged at this invader, and as he brought down the hammer, the man simply batted him aside. Picking himself up, Thor looked over to his brother to see him in complete panic mode, something he rarely saw, if ever. Loki backed away from the man before mustering the last of his strength and magic, when he suddenly disappeared.

"Typical of a trickster," he growled, "Always a coward."

Thor finally got to his feet as the man turned to face him.

"Who are you and what do you want with Asgard?" Thor asked.

The man smirked, "So your brother didn't mention me?"

Thor continued to glare at the man, spinning his hammer in preparedness to attack. The man chuckled, as if his efforts were in vain before saying.

"It's Thanos."

* * *

In the mountains of Northern California was a small town, tucked away from the busy cities in the valley, a peaceful area surrounded by the beauty of nature. With fall approaching, the leaves were starting to turn red, orange and yellow from its normally vibrant green color. It also meant deer hunting season for most of the citizens, and two girls, sisters, were out on the first day open of it. Their dad was a big deer hunter, and taught them how to use a gun, and he would have been out with them on this trip if he didn't need to make a trip to his parents place to help his dad take care of his ill mother so they were on their own.

The girls moved unnaturally quiet through the brush, one would had thought something odd was in play, which they would be right, only it would be difficult to explain how. The sister in the front held up a hand and the one following stopped in her tracks.

"Spotted something Dianne?" the girl in the back asked.

Dianne motioned her forward, "Right over there Olyvia."

Olyvia stepped forward, again no sound made as twigs were blatantly crushed beneath her feet, and stopped at her sister's side. Peering through the brush where she was pointing was a three-pointer.

"He's a big one," Olyvia commented.

"Since it's your birthday in two days, I'll let you have a shot at him," Dianne said.

"You sure? You spotted him first," Olyvia asked.

Dianne nodded, "I'll just move over here and if he bolts hope I can get a shot in."

Olyvia nodded, and her sister moved away, again, no sounds made as she moved through the brush and snuck up a small incline so she would have a good view. Raising her rifle, Olyvia looked through the scope and found her target. Almost instantly she saw that it became twitchy as it sensed some sort of disturbance. Olyvia could feel it too. She briefly looked away from her scope to look around. What was that? It was just this…sort of ghostly feeling down her spine.

Olyvia heard her sister do a bird whistle, one that meant 'take-the-darn-shot-already', and Olyvia dropped her head back to her rifle. Taking aim once more, she was about to pull the trigger when a loud popping sound echoed in the air, startling both her and the deer as something else suddenly appeared in her sights. As a reflex to not wanting the deer to bolt, she squeezed the trigger before she saw a _human_ drop. Lowering her gun she let out a horrified scream as she slapped a hand over her mouth.

"LIVY!" she heard Dianne shouted in horror.

"I know, I know! I'm sorry!" Olyvia shouted back to her sister, and began crashing through the brush to see what damage she dealt, not caring that she could possibly scare more game away, "He just suddenly appeared! And right in my crosshairs. Not my fault!"

"Right, you couldn't have dropped your line of target," Dianne rebutted as she hurried to catch up with her sister, "I've never shot anyone!"

"Yes, and the first time I ever go hunting, I do," Olyvia said as she finally stepped out from the brush to find the man lying on the ground, clutching his left shoulder in pain, "Ugh, worst birthday ever!"

"Your birthday is in two days," Dianne said as she joined her sister.

"Still, two days, this is technically my birthday week," Olyvia said, "And he's wearing green, he sort of blended in."

"Livy, it's Fall."

"_Almost_ fall, it's in two days too," Olyvia rebutted, "And he was standing next to a pine tree!"

"Right behind him is an oak tree though, and it's mostly orange."

"Oh shut up!"

"Whatever, we need to help this guy," Dianne said as she knelt down, "I am so sorry about this. My sister is a horrible shot."

Olyvia frowned, "Shouldn't that be a good thing? That meant I missed his heart."

"Get away from me you pathetic mortals," the man hissed.

Dianne leaned back, taken aback by his comment, and raised an eyebrow before looking up at her sister, "Mortals?"

"Sort of would explain how he just magically appeared right there though, don't you think?" Olyvia asked, "I mean…if he's not…mortal."

"S-s-stuff like that just doesn't…happen though Livy," Dianne said.

Olyvia gave her sister a blank stare, knowing full well she would know what she was thinking. Which she did, and Dianne sighed.

"You're right, I know," Dianne said, "Help me get him to the truck? We need to take him to the hospital."

"I don't need help from you mortals," the man again growled, "I am Loki! Son of Odin and I do not need your aide! And I will _not_ have a _girl_ carry—."

He was cut off by Olyvia hoisting him off the ground and slinging him over a shoulder, being careful not to jar his wound, but he cringed anyway. Loki struggled, but the girl had a grip of steel. No, stronger than that. Who…no, _what_ was this girl?

"You sure a hospital is what we need?" Olyvia asked, "Sounds more like a mental institution."

Dianne rolled her eyes, "Just get him to the Trooper."

"Just saying, keep it as an option," Olyvia said.

"Whatever, you stay in the back seat with him, I'll drive," Dianne said as she hurried a little faster down the hill to where their vehicle was parked.

Olyvia slowed to a stop, her face going pale, "Um…how about _you_ stay in the back with him and _I_ drive?"

"You were the one who shot him, you stay with him," Dianne rebutted.

Olyvia gulped, "We're all going to die before we reach the hospital."

* * *

In S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, everyone was running about crazily as they were trying to get a reading on a disturbance recorded all the way on the other side of the U.S. Looking at the data, it looked a lot like when the Asgardians traveled to Earth, so they could only assume that perhaps it was one of them, or someone else who had that ability.

"I want a team of agents out there now to find what made its way here," Fury ordered as everyone continued to scurry around. He wasn't going to take any chances of this being another attack.

Eventually a group of agents got themselves organized together and headed to the hanger to take a quinjet to California. Being on the other side of the country, they could only hope that whatever arrived, didn't go far. Fury glanced down at the pager on his hip that he had in case he needed to get in contact with the Avengers. He hoped he wouldn't have to use it.

* * *

At the hospital, Olyvia was a nervous wreck. She thought she would end up being arrested, or charged with something for shooting someone. Having taken off her camo cap, she let her curly blond locks loose from her ponytail and out of a nervous habit, kept wrapping a finger in a strand before pulling it loose, then doing it over again. Dianne herself was nervous, tugging anxiously at the braid her long dark brown hair was kept in.

"Do you think I'm going to be arrested?" Olyvia asked quietly as she and her sister waited in the lobby, where they were instructed to wait for the police to arrive to question them.

"Not arrested," Dianne replied, "They'll most likely take away your hunting license, and your gun safety license. You'll probably have to take that class over."

Olyvia grimaced, "That's it, I'm never hunting again. Bad things happen when I go hunting."

"You've only gone once, you can't determine that from just one outing," Dianne said.

"Yes I can," Olyvia rebutted.

Dianne sighed. There really was no arguing with her sister when she got like this. Once the police arrived, Olyvia was nearly pulling her hair out she was really pulling on that strand hard. As Dianne expected, Olyvia's gun safety license was revoked, as well as her hunting license. She was also expected to pay for the man's medical bills.

"Well there goes my college money," Olyvia sighed, "I won't be going to college this semester."

"I'm sure it won't be too much money," Dianne said, "You've been saving up for a while haven't you?"

"I have, but I bet you the hospital will get as much as they can from me," Olyvia said, "This sucks."

"Well maybe you should have been paying attention to what you were doing," Dianne said.

"I was Dianne!" Olyvia nearly shouted, tears springing to her eyes, "You saw what I saw. He just suddenly appeared there. It was not my fault he just happened to be directly in front of me. I was trying to shoot the deer, not him!"

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry," Dianne said.

Olyvia wiped away the tears that began sliding down her cheeks. She was just so angry and frustrated with herself, and overwhelmed with the situation that she couldn't help but cry. Olyvia was a very emotional person and had very few middle grounds with them. Her highs were high, and her lows were _low_. When she got angry or sad, it was _not_ a pretty sight. After the news covered the destruction in New York City, showing some clips of the heroes who saved the day, their little sister Rosemary couldn't help but comment that the damage done when Olyvia was angry looked similar to what that green hulk thing did. Needless to say Rosemary had a bruise on her arm for a week after that comment.

"Livy, don't beat yourself up over it," Dianne said, "Hunting accidents happen all the time, and most of those incidents are deadly. You hit the guy in the shoulder."

"What am I going to tell Dad though?" Olyvia sobbed, "He's going to ground me for life!"

Dianne placed a consoling hand on her sisters shoulder, "Livy, he'll understand. It really was…a freak accident."

Olyvia grabbed a tissue from a nearby Kleenex box and blew her nose, "No kidding. Do you really think that guy is…Loki? I mean…that's Norse Mythology."

Dianne shrugged, "I don't know. I mean…we both know it's a possibility. We know there are… different people out there."

Olyvia nodded in agreement, "That or he's whacked out on drugs."

"Doesn't explain how he magically appeared out of nowhere," Dianne said.

"Maybe he's from Hogwarts!" Olyvia said excitedly, snapping out of her depression just like that.

Dianne brought the palm of her hand to her forehead, "One, that is, unfortunately, fiction. Two, he is far too old."

"He could be a teacher," Olyvia said, "Defense against the dark arts you know. Those guys die off every year!"

Dianne face-palmed her forehead once again, "Whatever, I'm starting to believe the Norse Mythology more now."

"You're no fun."

"Whatever," Dianne said, "Come on, let's go see how he's doing."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Olyvia called out to her sister as she began walking away, and jogged over to her to catch up, "If he's not from around here…where is he going to go."

Dianne's face paled, "Uh…we might have to take him home with us."

"Mom will _not_ allow that," Olyvia said.

"We can't let him just…wander the streets though," Dianne said, "Not with a bullet wound that's healing."

Olyvia chewed on her bottom lip as she continued to follow her sister down the hospital hallway, "Then…I guess our only option would be to sneak him in. He could stay in the barn. The weather is still warm, it shouldn't be so bad there."

Dianne nodded thoughtfully, "Yes…he could stay up in the loft. You're in charge of the barn chores anyway, it's not like we have to worry about Mom or Rosemary stumbling across him."

"Or Dad," Olyvia said, "because we don't know how long…Loki might have to stay there. You know, saying Loki just sounds weird to me."

Dianne rolled her eyes, "That is true, but we'll just have to see how things go. Ah, here's his room."

"They're just letting us go see him?" Olyvia asked in confusion as Dianne opened the door.

"It's Trinity Hospital."

"Point taken."

Stepping inside the room, they found Loki pulling on his jacket, having just finished getting dressed, though he was having some difficulty pulling on the jacket.

"Um…where you discharged or something?" Dianne asked.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked bitterly, "I do not need you following me around like children. Leave me be."

"The saying is following you around like a puppy," Olyvia said, "Just saying."

"What?" Loki asked in confusion.

"Anyway," Dianne said, shooting her sister a look before turning to Loki, "We just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah, I'm really, really, _really_ sorry about shooting you," Olyvia said, "It won't happen again."

Loki looked at her with an expression that said 'it better not' as he clasped the buttons of his jacket shut. Dianne wondered how he was not burning up wearing all that long and heavy clothing.

"I was wondering…do you have anywhere to go?" Dianne asked.

Loki paused, "Why does it matter to you?"

"Well…if you don't have anywhere to go…you're welcome to stay with us for a while, until you're better," Dianne said.

"I do not need your aide," Loki said, "And it is better anyway that I do not stay in one place for long."

"You're still hurt though, and you shouldn't just…wander off with it still healing," Dianne argued.

"It'll heal within a few days," Loki rebutted, "I don't see why you care so much."

"Um, one, it's my fault your hurt," Olyvia joined in, "So _I_ at least feel an obligation to make sure you're all okay. And two…I can't think of anything. Dianne help me out."

Dianne sighed, "Secondly…if you don't have anywhere to go…we want to help."

Loki's face was unreadable as he just stared at them for a few seconds before speaking, "I am flattered by your kindness, but believe me, it is a kindness if I leave you, and your home, far behind me."

Olyvia leaned over to her sister, "Sounds like he has something bad following after him."

"You have no idea," Loki said, "Now if you'll excuse me."

Striding past the girls, he headed out the room door and down the hall. Poking their heads out, they found no one seemed to notice he was leaving and Dianne was pretty sure he wouldn't have been discharged so soon.

"We should probably get out of here," Dianne suggested.

"Good plan," Olyvia said, quickly slipping out the door and moving at a fast walk down the hall.

Dianne quickly followed, their footsteps silenced as they walked to the door, so no one hardly paid them any heed either. Once outside, Dianne moved to her sister's side and gave her a look before nodding to Loki, who was only twenty feet ahead of them, his hand holding his shoulder. It was obviously causing him some pain. With a small sigh, Olyvia moved faster until she was right behind Loki. With a swift movement of her arms, she picked him up and had him slung over a shoulder again.

"What are you doing!?" Loki exclaimed, "Put me down this instant!"

"Sorry, but we believe you'll be better off, at least for the next few days, staying somewhere that you can actually get your rest," Olyvia said as she walked over to the Trooper parked in the lot, "So stop struggling and accept the fact that people are going to help you."

"I think kidnapping is the term you are looking for," Loki spat.

Olyvia rolled her eyes as she climbed into the backseat and unceremoniously dumped Loki down on it, "Now sit. Stay."

Loki leaned back in the seat with a huff. This mortals were…frustrating. He didn't understand the appeal Thor had for them. They were annoying, and stubborn, and…stupid! Even though he believed them to be a weak race, there was something about these two girls that gave him pause. Not even Sif could keep Loki in a hold long, no matter how hard she tried, not to mention carry and drag him around wherever she wanted. He had to admit, it was his curiosity about them that really was keeping him from leaving. He could use his magic again to just disappear, but that would cause too much strain on his body, which would in turn prolong his healing time. So perhaps he would suffer through a few days with these humans in order to let his body restore itself, and then he would leave. He needed to keep moving, to get as far away from Thanos as he possibly could. He didn't know what he was thinking, following the Mad Titan, promising to get the Tesseract for him. No…that was it exactly, he wasn't thinking. He could remember everything clearly, but the reason why he did it…it was still a little fuzzy to him. That was why Loki couldn't give Thor any answers. He was still trying to figure them out himself.

Arriving at the house, Dianne asked Olyvia to stall their mom while Dianne took Loki to the barn to get him…somewhat settled before they could sneak more supplies out to him. Saluting her sister, Olyvia then grabbed the guns and headed inside, looking for their mom as she headed to the gunlock to put them away. She found her in the sewing room, where the gunlock was, as well as a window looking out to the barn.

"Hey, how was your hunting trip?" her mother asked.

"Uneventful," Olyvia replied, placing the guns away and then leaned against the window sill, trying to cover as much window as she could with her body, which was certainly more than either of her sisters could. Olyvia was much brawnier than the two of them, having inherited her father's skeletal structure and muscle mass, "Found a three pointer, but it got away."

"Well that's too bad," her mother said, her gaze focused on the sewing machine, "Where is your sister?"

"She's grabbing the rest of the stuff from the Trooper," Olyvia replied, "She takes a lot of supplies, for just in case you know."

Her mother nodded, pressing her foot down on the pedal and running the fabric through the machine, "Well, maybe the next time you go out you'll get something. I know Allen wanted to take you out on your first time, but maybe he'll get the chance to at least take you out sometime this season."

Olyvia bit her lip. How would she tell her parents she lost her hunting license _and_ gun license? The one option she had in order _not_ to tell them was to just take the class and get them back again, or she could just spill her guts that she shot someone, and lost them. Her gut was telling her to just tell her the truth, to just get it out because lies were the worst kind of poison. It would eat her from the inside out. Oh Dianne would probably berate her for this later, but at least Olyvia wouldn't have to spill that they were letting the guy stay in the barn. She couldn't live with the guilt, so she had to say something.

"Actually…Mom…please don't be angry with me but…," Olyvia swallowed hard, trying to keep her tears back, "Our hunting trip…was anything but uneventful."

Stopping her sewing and leaning back in her chair, her mother removed her glasses as she looked up at her daughter to show she was listening.

"Mom I…I accidentally shot someone," Olyvia confessed, dropping her head in shame.

Her mother's eyes grew wide as she slapped a hand over her mouth, which had gone slack from the shock, "Livy!"

"I'm sorry I didn't mention it right away," Olyvia apologized, the tears brimming close to the edge again, "I was just…ashamed of myself. But that's what really happened. I went to shoot the deer I mentioned, and ended up hitting someone else. I lost my licenses. So Dad…will just have to take Dianne out."

Getting to her feet, her mother crossed the room and embraced her daughter in a hug. Olyvia returned it before she realized that her mother had a clear view out of the window now.

"Thank you for telling me," she said, "And I'm not upset with you. I'm sure it was an accident."

"Most definitely," Olyvia said. She wasn't sure if she could actually purposefully shoot someone. The thought just…sickened her.

Olyvia pulled away from her mom and moved back to the door so her mother would turn around, "So what are you working on now?"

"I'm making a dress for River," she replied. River was Olyvia's niece, her oldest sisters youngest kid out of four, and the only girl, "She's gotten so big now, I just hope I can finish it in time for her to wear it at least once."

Olyvia smiled, and glanced up to the window when she saw Dianne running by, giving her a thumbs up.

"Well then I will let you get back to work," Olyvia said as she walked backward out the door, "See you at dinnertime."

Heading back to the front door, Olyvia met up with her sister in the living room.

"So?"

"He's just sitting out there right now," Dianne said, "We need to sneak a few blankets out there for him. Something he can sleep on so the hay isn't poking him, and then one to keep him warm."

"I'll go grab a sleeping bag he can use to sleep on, you get a blanket," Olyvia said, "Plan blanket is a go!"

Olyvia somersaulted her way to a stairway heading down before moving all sneaky like down it, and Dianne rolled her eyes. Her sister was a dork a lot of the time. Running upstairs, Dianne headed into her room, and grabbed a blanket from her bed. No one but her would miss it, which would keep suspicions down. Folding it up, she headed back downstairs, and headed to the barn the other way around to avoid the sewing room window as much as she could. As she headed into the barn, she found she had arrived before her sister. She was probably still digging around the basement for a sleeping bag. As she walked in, she had only taken a few steps forward when she noticed Loki was down by the horses. He had taken his jacket off, either he got too hot or it was just bothering him, wearing just a light green tunic underneath it, and he was petting one of the horses, speaking softly to it. Dianne couldn't help but smile. It was such a cute picture. Dianne blushed a little at her next thought. Loki himself was rather cute.

Clearing her throat to announce her presence, she walked over to the stall Loki was inside of, "I brought you a blanket to use."

Loki looked at the bundle of fabric in her arms before moving his gaze to her eyes, "Thank you."

"That's Blaze, by the way," Dianne said, motioning to the pure black horse he was petting, "She's my horse."

"Blaze?" Loki asked, as if he couldn't believe she honestly gave the horse that name.

"Hey, I've had her for years, I was a lot younger when I got her," Dianne defended, "I thought it was a cool name back then."

Loki merely shrugged, instantly regretting it as pain shot through his left shoulder.

"And what about the others?" Loki asked.

"Well that Appaloosa down there is Livy's, her name is Cara, short for Caramel, because of her mane and tail color," Dianne explained, "She is rather temperamental, Livy is the only one who can really handle her. The two brown Quarter horses are my parents, April and Boy, they got them from my grandpa, and then the pony, Kit, is Rosemary's."

Loki raised an eyebrow at the painted pony, "Any reason…it's a…_pony_?"

Dianne smiled, "Rosemary's nickname is midget. She's not going to grow any taller than she is already. The pony is the perfect height for her."

"Ah," Loki said, "That explains it then."

Just a few seconds later, the barn door opened and Olyvia slipped inside. Dianne had just turned around to talk to her when she chucked the sleeping bag at her. Dianne caught it between her face and arms, which still held the blanket as well, with an "oomph!"

"Rosemary is looking for me so I need to go distract her now," Olyvia said as she began backing out the door, "You can get him all set up right? Good. Bye."

Dianne glared at her sister over the sleeping bag as she quickly left. She could hear Rosemary shouting for Olyvia though, and they didn't want her catching them sneaking blankets and such out for Loki, let alone seeing Loki. But geez, Rosemary was loud, they could hear her clear as day and Dianne knew she wasn't close to the barn at all, but most likely on the other side of the house. Turning back around to face Loki, Dianne adjusted her grip so she could better hold the blanket and sleeping bag.

"You'll be sleeping up in the loft," Dianne said, "So you can just follow me."

Heading to a ladder, she again adjusted her items to where they were slung over a shoulder, and pinned them there with her head as she climbed up, doing her best to not let either fall or lose her balance. This was why she was hoping Olyvia would be there to help, she could have just tossed both items up into the loft easy, despite it being thirty feet up in the air. Dianne was more than relieved to have reached the top, flopping the blanket and sleeping bag down before hoisting herself up. As she began to make a pile of hay behind the mound of it to place the sleeping bag over, Loki reached the loft as well, his jacket slung over an arm. He looked around a bit before moving to the window on the right wall. Looking out, he could see the house, and the road leading to it. It was a good vantage point to see if anyone was coming from the obvious path to the barn. Moving to the other side, he opened up the wooden panel for the other window. That view was of the hillside, and he couldn't see much further than a hundred feet into the woods before it became too thick with trees.

"So…dinner will be in about an hour," Dianne said as she unzipped the sleeping bag all the way and laid it down over the pile of hay she made, "I'll try to bring something out for you."

"You don't need to trouble yourself with me anymore," Loki said.

Dianne looked over at him with a blank expression, "I'm not going to let you go hungry. Besides, my sister is making burritos, and her burritos are really good."

Loki didn't know what these burritos were, they didn't…sound all that appetizing. He could fend for himself, he had been practically his whole life. Though…the last time he was out on his own, it didn't really go over all that well.

Once happy with the way the sleeping bag was laid, Dianne tossed the blanket down on top and turned to Loki, "Well…I'll just be going now, unless you need anything else."

Loki merely shook his head so Dianne waved goodbye before heading to the ladder and making her way down. Tossing his jacket onto the makeshift bed, Loki went and sat down, placing a hand over the injury on his shoulder, cringing slightly from the pain. He was used to injuries like this though, after what he had been through, and he knew it would only take a few days to fully heal. Being an Agardian, or even technically a Frost Giant, he healed much faster than a mere mortal. He was a little concerned though, staying here a few days. He didn't want to make it easier for Thanos to find him, or cause trouble for these people. They had shown him kindness, even though they did not know him, and the least he could do was not bring about their demise. He was intrigued by them though, wanting to study them a little while he was here, perhaps even just a little longer, just to see if he could find what made them different. He knew there was something, and he wanted to find out what.

* * *

Dianne brought Loki food a little over an hour later, and he hadn't moved from his spot on the bed. After a short conversation in which Loki ate, Dianne headed back into the house with the plate his dinner was on, and Loki had to admit, this…burrito or whatever Dianne had called it was rather good. A little too spicy perhaps for him, but otherwise good. Once Dianne left, Loki laid down on the bed, and just pondered over things until it grew dark out. He wondered how Asgard fared, whether his family survived…or if anyone survived for that matter. Loki knew how powerful Thanos was, nothing could stop him. It wasn't a matter of whether the Asgardians beat Thanos, it was a matter of whether he decided to leave and give chase after Loki, or destroy the place before moving on. Closing his eyes, he tried to think of better things as he let himself drift off to sleep.

* * *

When another atmospheric disturbance was detected, this time in the New York vicinity, Fury was starting to worry. The team heading to California would nearly be there by now, and here they had another problem. He was quick to get a team out there, and a half hour later heard the report from the agents. His stomach dropped hearing it. Thor was here, and he had bad news. Fury didn't even wait to have Thor brought in to tell him what was wrong now and grabbed the pager on his hip. It was time to call for the Avengers. He could only hope they would arrive quickly, despite it being in the middle of the night. He expected though Stark would take his sweet time, and arrive in the morning. Fury just hoped that whatever catastrophe was about to happen, that it would hold off to allow Stark to get his act together.

Agent Barton and Romanoff were the first to arrive at the conference room of course, since they were already on the helicarrier, and Thor was brought in not long after. He spoke to Fury privately so he knew what was going on, before waiting for the rest to arrive to be debriefed. Steve arrived next, having been brought on a quinjet by an agent who went to fetch him. Next was Bruce, arriving bleary eyed and still half asleep, but he was still there. As Fury expected though, Stark didn't arrive until late the next morning, arriving in his Iron Man suit. Everyone slept in their chairs, knowing full well they would have to wait for him.

"You do know the meaning of the word critical, don't you Stark?" Fury asked as Stark waltzed in and took a seat next to Bruce.

"Do you understand the meaning of _the middle of the night_," Stark rebutted.

Fury didn't bother with a retort, instead sweeping a glance over the group, "We have a situation."

"We sort of assumed that, given that we're here," Stark said.

Again, Fury just ignored Stark, "Last night we detected an atmospheric disturbance on the west coast, similar to the one caused when the Asgardians travel here. Thor arrived nearly six hours later, with some news you won't like."

Thor took this as his cue and stood from his seat, "My brother has escaped Asgard."

"Wait, so we have to stop him from destroying the world _again_?" Stark asked exasperatedly.

"I do not believe that is his plan," Thor replied, "He was running from someone, who goes by the name of Thanos. He…he nearly destroyed Asgard before leaving. I believe he only left to go after Loki."

"I have a question," Stark piped up, "_Why_ was this Thanos guy after him?"

"That I do not know," Thor replied, "I tried getting answers from my brother when we were in Asgard, but he would not give any. I hope to find my brother, and get those answers now."

"So this disturbance on the west coast," Steve began, talking more to Fury, "You believe that was Loki?"

"We believe so, yes," Fury replied.

"So we're going to…what?" Stark asked, "Find him, figure out who this Thanos dude is and take care of him?"

"I'm afraid it won't be as simple, or as easy as you might think," Thor said to the billionaire, "This…Thanos, he broke into the weapons vault in Asgard, and stole the infinity gauntlet. He went there to get the Tesseract, but my father removed it so instead he took the gauntlet."

"And what does this gauntlet do exactly, that makes it so dangerous?" Bruce asked.

"The gauntlet is designed to hold six soul gems," Thor went to explain, "When they are all mounted on the gauntlet, it gives the wearer immense power over their abilities, and has absolute dominion over the universe. He could easily destroy any world, with a simple snap of his fingers."

Everyone's eyes grew wide.

"_That_ doesn't sound good," Stark said.

"Wait a second," Bruce began, catching something the others hadn't, "You said it is _designed_ to hold six gems. Does that mean it currently…does not have any?"

Thor nodded, and the group visibly relaxed, "My father knew that it would be far too dangerous to keep it all in one piece and in one place. He removed the gems and scattered them throughout one of the realms."

"Wouldn't it have been a better idea to put them in more than one place?" Stark asked.

Thor shot Stark a look before continuing, "Luckily Thanos doesn't know where they are hidden, but I know it won't take him long."

"Do _you_ know where they're hidden?" Natasha asked.

Thor pursed his lips, "They're all somewhere in Midgard."

"Well isn't that…peachy," Stark muttered.

"So then Thanos is after the soul gems," Steve said.

"_And_ after Loki," Clint added.

"And just so he can attempt to gain the Tesseract's power as well," Thor finished.

"So limitless power isn't enough for the guy huh?" Stark said sarcastically.

"You know what this means then don't you," Fury said.

Everyone went silent as they looked back at him.

"You're going to have to stop him before he gets that far."


	2. Chapter 2

**I meant to mention this in my previous author's note that this is a Loki/OC, Steve/OC fanfic, for those who are curious, though it may have been obvious.**

**Elizabeth14: You'll get to learn a little more about the girls in this chapter. Not giving away too much though…at least I don't believe so.**

**CHAPTER TWO**

With an objective in mind, Fury went on to explain the plan on tracking down Loki. His team found no traces of him, or anyone in the vicinity where the activity occurred, but the name Loki popped up in a search they ran.

"He was apparently taken to a hospital in the area," Fury said as everyone looked over the tablet they were given with the data, "having received a gunshot wound to the shoulder in a hunting accident."

"Hunting accident?" Clint asked skeptically.

"You see the two names of the people who brought him in, in the file in front of you, they were the ones hunting when he showed up," Fury replied, "What is also interesting is when we ran their names when we got this information, we found their family has been a point of interest that we wanted to keep an eye on."

"Why?" Steve asked, not seeing anything on the tablet that answered that question.

"Due to some…odd incidents, we've been keeping tabs on them the past few years," Fury replied, "They may have answers to where Loki is, and I want Barton, Romanoff and Rogers to go and see what they can find by tailing them for a while, _before_ approaching them and asking straight out."

"Wait, what about me?" Stark asked.

"You are too recognizable, you'd give us away Stark," Fury replied.

Stark slumped back in his seat as he began to pout, "Then why am I here?"

"So you are easily available to call to action," Fury replied, "We don't know when things might go wrong and I can't exactly depend on you to arrive on a timely manner."

"What about Banner and Blondie over here?"

Thor glared at Stark, not taking too kindly for the nickname he gave him.

"I doubt Fury will want me anywhere near where Loki is, given what happened last time," Bruce replied for Fury.

"And Thor would stick out too much," Fury added, "We don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

Stark continued to pout. Well this mission was already turning out to be _so fun_! Not. Looking over at Steve, he found he was panicking slightly.

"A-are you sure you want me to go sir?" Steve asked, "I'm not very good at…reconnaissance."

"You'll have Agent Barton and Romanoff there to tell you what to do," Fury replied, "So you three better pack your things. You will be out on the mission for the foreseeable future."

Turning on his heel, Fury swept out of the room, his black duster flipping in the air as he did so. Stark sighed loudly as she leaned back in his seat.

"Guess we may as well make ourselves comfortable here."

"You know Stark, we won't exactly be having fun over in California," Natasha said, "We're going to be doing our job."

Stark jolted up in his seat, "California? Where does it say that?"

"Did you look at the file at all?" Clint asked.

Stark picked up the tablet and scanned through it before plopping it back down on the table.

"No fair."

* * *

Loki awoke the next morning to an awful crowing sound. Jolting upright in his bed, he whipped his head around trying to determine where it was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from outside, so moving to the window he poked his head out to figure out exactly where it was because if he found it, he was going to kill it and put the poor creature out of its misery to end his misery. Looking over to the left, he saw a smaller building with a fence around it where the noise was coming from. Loki frowned. If he destroyed the building, that would cause too much suspicion amongst the others who lived in the house who didn't know he was there. So doing his best to ignore the awful sound, he went back over to the bed and plopped back down on it.

After an hour the crowing finally stopped, instead of going off every few minutes, and by now the sun was over the mountains. Loki was planning on just lying in his spot all day, let himself rest, but he heard an unfamiliar voice outside. Curiosity piqued, he got back up and peeked out the window. Loki instantly knew who it was, due to Dianne's description and the tiny stature of the girl outside. It was Rosemary, Dianne's younger sister. Or was it youngest sister? He wasn't entirely sure who was older out of Dianne and Olyvia, they were so close in age. Olyvia looked older, but Dianne just seemed older… sometimes.

Loki watched the girl as she walked around the side of the house, carrying on a conversation with herself. It was odd indeed, her carrying on a conversation with herself, but was even more odd was as she stepped around the corner, she suddenly disappeared. Blinking his eyes, Loki poked his head further out the window and found she was already over at that small building where all that crowing had been going on. Did she…did she really just…_magically transport_ herself over there? There was no way she could have moved that fast. Unless…she could move that fast. Loki continued to watch her as she opened and propped the door open, letting out a dozen chickens. So that what was making the racket this morning. Scattering something out on the ground, she left the fenced area, and then once again, disappeared and reappeared at the corner of the house. Loki's brow furrowed in confusion as he took a step back from the window.

"What is going on here?"

Moving back to his bed, he sat down on it, pondering over what he saw. It hadn't even been a few minutes though before he heard the barn door open. Moving to the loft edge, he glanced down to see it was Olyvia, and she was climbing up the ladder with a plate of food in a hand. Somehow she managed to get up with only one hand and the elbow of her other arm.

"Morning," Olyvia said as she climbed up onto the loft, "Dianne wanted me to give you breakfast when I came out to do my chores."

Loki took the plate from her and looked at the food, "Thanks…what is it?"

"It's an omelet," Olyvia replied, "Well…we call it a scramblet because an omelet isn't…all scrambled like that. It's good though. Dianne made it. Oh," she pulled a plastic container from a large pocket on the front of her sweater she was wearing with an orange liquid inside, "here is some Orange Juice to go with it. So eat while I'm here because I'll be taking it back when I go."

She placed the bottle down and scooted back over to the ladder. She had just swung her legs down when Loki spoke.

"What sort of powers does your sister possess?"

Olyvia stopped short, nearly losing her grip on the ladder in the process, and stared over at Loki with wide eyes, "P-p-powers? I-I don't know what you mean."

"Don't try to lie to me, I am the master of lies," Loki said, placing the plate down, "I will know when you are lying to me. And I know what I saw this morning."

"You mean Rosemary?" Olyvia asked, and Loki nodded, "Oh, well then, that's easy to explain. She just talks a lot, and loudly, there really isn't anything special about it."

"That is not what I meant," Loki said, starting to get frustrated.

"Then what do you mean?"

Loki paused. Was it possible Olyvia didn't know of her sister's abilities? And it wasn't like she was lying to him if she did know, she was just avoiding it.

"Never mind," Loki said, picking up his plate of food again.

As he began to eat, Olyvia headed down the ladder and began feeding the horses, making sure they had enough water, and cleaning up any bit of mess in the stalls if needed, which only one needed a brief raking out. Loki was finished with his meal when she went to collect the plate, and she couldn't help but have a heavy, sick feeling in her stomach. How was she going to tell Dianne, that Loki saw Rosemary using some ability this morning? And…what would Loki do if, or when, he found out about the rest of them?

* * *

Once they had their bags ready, Clint, Natasha and Steve took a quinjet to Northern California, where they landed in a secluded area not far from a nearby city where they would then make their way to the specified town.

"Wow, it's _hot_ here," Natasha said as she stepped out of the quinjet, instantly taking off her sweater.

"And it's not even 10:30," Clint said as he followed her out, "Nothing like the humid heat on the east coast."

"Which makes it worse," Natasha said.

Clint smirked, "You're just not used to any sort of heat, coming from Russia."

Natasha shot a glare at him, but said nothing more. Steve came out from the quinjet next, and the moment he stepped into the sun he stopped and placed his bags down in order to take off his leather jacket.

"Isn't it supposed to be fall?" Steve asked.

"Technically that's tomorrow," Clint replied, "I guess it stays rather warm though, for a while here so I doubt it'll cool down quick."

Natasha groaned and slung the strap of her bag over a shoulder before picking up the other two she had by their handles and headed over to the truck they would be taking to the town. The two guys grabbed their stuff and placed them in the back of the truck as well, Steve offering to sit in the back, which neither argued with, and once he climbed in they got in as well, Natasha taking the driver seat, and they headed off. Going through the city went fine, but it was once they were out of it that Natasha's driving started getting a little crazy, especially on the winding road they were on. Steve found himself gripping onto whatever he could get a hold of to keep himself from being tossed about the back.

"Tasha, you could take the corners a little slower," Clint said, holding onto the grip above his door as well.

"I'm driving just fine," Natasha said.

She took another corner, and Steve gripped even tighter onto his handholds as he heard the tires starting to squeal.

"Okay, seriously you need to drive slower," Steve said.

"You're driving a truck, not a sports car Tasha," Clint added, "This will tip if you take a corner too fast."

"I know that Clint," Natasha said with a roll of her eyes.

Steve was half expecting her to keep going at the speed she was, but she did slow down. Breathing a sigh of relief, Steve relaxed slightly. He could already tell though that this was going to be an interesting time, being with them, for the foreseeable future.

The three arrived in the town a little over an hour later, first heading to the hospital to get the information of what occurred when Loki was taken there, finding out that he had just disappeared before he was to be discharged. Someone went to check on him once they saw the girls leave, so they assumed he slipped out the same time they left. Once getting the rather useless information, they headed over to the place they would be staying. It was a house in the town they would practically be renting while they were there. Though it was in town, they were a good distance from any other house so they didn't have to worry about nosy neighbors poking into their business. Parking the truck, they clambered out, and Steve was so grateful to be able to stretch his legs finally. Heading inside, they chose their rooms and placed their bags in the rooms before meeting out in the living room. The house was plainly furnished, with neutral colored walls and flooring, as well as furniture, and very open. Clint went and sat down on the couch, as well as Natasha, but Steve remained standing, a little tired of all the sitting he had done already.

"So now what is the plan?" Steve asked, clearly lost as to what to do. He had never done this sort of thing before so he would rather leave the planning in the hands of the two people who had done it before.

"Well, we need to look over the data we were given first, and then we'll determine what to do," Natasha said, pulling out the tablet that had the information in it and turned it on.

Clint did the same, and Steve groaned a little. He was so out of touch with technology he didn't exactly like the little electronic device given him with the information. What was wrong with folders and papers? Going back to his room, he brought it back out and turned it on, leaning against the wall opposite the couch the other two were as he struggled with figuring out how to open up the file, and once he finally did, the other two were already talking about it, which was a file about a girl named Dianne Harris, the oldest of the three daughters that were on S.H.I.E.L.D's watch list, and one of the two who had taken Loki to the hospital. She wasn't the one who shot him though.

"Really pretty girls," Natasha commented, sliding a finger across the screen a number of times in order to scroll through the pages, "Good genes."

Steve looked at the picture of Dianne, since he hadn't moved from the first page. It wasn't a typical front view shot, instead looked a picture taken as she walked down a street or something. You could see her face clearly though, and Steve could agree she was a pretty girl. Flipping through the next page of her file he stopped at the next, freezing when he saw the picture of the other girl, Olyvia. Her face…it reminded him a lot of Peggy's, the high cheekbones, strong jawline, almond shaped eyes, curved nose and full lips. Only this girl had long curly blond hair and didn't have the red lips he had always seen Peggy have. Her picture was also similar to her sisters, only she was facing directly at the camera, but her eyes were looking at something off somewhere to her right. Steve just stared at her picture for a few seconds. She was…beautiful.

"Steve?" Natasha said, and a bit loudly, snapping Steve out of his reverie. He could only assume she had said his name several times due to how she raised her voice, "Are you okay with the plan?"

"Uh…could you repeat it?" Steve asked, he hadn't heard a single word they had said, too busy trying to figure out his tablet thing, and then staring at Olyvia's picture.

"We're going to head out early tomorrow morning and park on the road near their driveway so we can see when they leave tomorrow," Natasha replied, "Then we'll go from there."

Steve nodded, "Sure, sounds good."

Natasha then turned to Clint and started discussing further plans with him, such as what devices they should have available, and what to have set up. Steve looked back at the tablet, looking at Olyvia's picture again. He wondered what could she have done to put her on S.H.I.E.L.D's radar? Looking through the information on the page, he found where it said in her Senior year at High School, she was walking through the parking lot with a friend when she literally stopped a truck that was about to hit them with her bare hands. She claimed that they had just hit the breaks in time "the jackass" was her exact quote, yet S.H.I.E.L.D had somehow heard of this bizarre incident and believed it was something else entirely.

Sating his curiosity with that file, Steve went ahead and flipped to the next one. Rosemary Harris. She looked a lot like Olyvia, with the same facial structure and light blue eyes, only her hair was much darker, bordering on a dark, dark blond and a really light brown, and had only a slight wave to it instead of the ringlets that Olyvia had. She looked much younger as well, but Steve was surprised to find she was sixteen, turning seventeen in a little over three months. She honestly looked at _least_ thirteen in the picture. Flipping back to Dianne's file, he looked at her picture again. There was a family resemblance between all three of them, but Dianne looked fairly different, she didn't have the strong jawline the other two did, but instead had a soft oval face, and her straight hair was a dark brown, and her eyes a jade green.

With their plan in mind, they went about doing their own things, Steve heading back to his room to unpack and get settled in. He had a gut feeling this was going to last longer than just a few days, he might as well make himself at home.

* * *

Olyvia waited for her sister to arrive home from work on the front steps to their porch. When she pulled up, she hopped off the stairs and over to her sister.

"Okay, I apologize for not mentioning this yesterday because I forgot, but I had to tell Mom I shot someone," Olyvia quickly said.

"You what!?" Dianne shrieked.

"I just told her I shot someone, nothing else," Olyvia said, "But there is another issue I need to talk to you about. This morning when I went to do my chores and give Loki breakfast…he apparently saw Rosemary using one of her powers."

Dianne brought the palm of a hand to her forehead, "Oh great…what did he say?"

"He asked what sort of powers Rosemary possessed," Olyvia replied, "I played dumb and acted like I didn't know what he was talking about, but…I think she did something that is hard to explain otherwise."

Dianne scratched the top of her head, "Well…it's not like he's normal. I'm not too worried."

"But what if he talks to someone!"

"Livy…he doesn't really like talking, if you've noticed," Dianne pointed out.

"You're right…okay, I'm just freaking out too much," Olyvia said.

"But we won't tell him anything unless he figures it out, _then_ we'll explain things," Dianne said, "Speaking of Loki though, I'm going to go check on him."

"I'm sure he's been bored out of his mind," Olyvia said as Dianne walked by, "He's had only the horses to keep him entertained."

Dianne paused for a moment, before turning and heading into the house first. She had an idea.

* * *

Loki was bored out of his mind up in the loft, having spent most of his day just lying there. Once he knew people were gone, he left the loft to spend time with the horses, but soon that became boring too, and he went back up into the loft and just laid on his bed for the rest of the day. Hearing the barn door open, he finally moved from his spot to peek over the edge. It was Dianne this time, and she had a few things in her hand.

"Hi," she said from the base of the ladder, "Do you mind if I come up?"

"This is your place, do whatever you please," Loki replied.

"Well if you would prefer to be left alone, I can do that," Dianne replied.

Loki was silent for a few moments. He did prefer his solitude, but he usually had something to keep his mind entertained, instead of counting the knots in the wood in the ceiling. Plus, he was hoping Dianne would give him some answers instead of avoiding them, like Olyvia did.

"You obviously wish to speak with me about something so you may come up," Loki eventually said.

Taking a few seconds to adjust her hold on the items in her hand, she then made her way to the loft. When she dumped the items onto the floor so she could pull herself the rest of the way up, Loki found they were books.

"I'm sorry I totally forgot to do this yesterday or this morning," Dianne began, picking the books back up, "But I thought that I would give you a few options of books to read. I…don't really know what you typically read, or if you enjoy reading, but I just wanted to…be helpful. I'm sure you were rather bored today."

"Immensely," Loki said blandly.

"Sorry," Dianne muttered apologetically, "Um…anyway, here are a few of my favorite books. They are only the first in their series, but if you like one, I can bring you the next one or few if you want."

"So you like reading?" Loki asked, picking up one and looking at the title, _The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring_.

"Only a little," Dianne said sarcastically, holding her index finger and thumb out as far as she could stretch them.

Loki smiled slightly, actually smiled, "I spent most of my time back home reading the books in the library. It was my favorite place to be."

"It is good to have a fellow bookworm to talk to," Dianne said with a smile.

"Your sisters do not enjoy reading?"

"Not really," Dianne replied, "Olyvia reads sometimes, but she doesn't read anything I enjoy. As for Rosemary…she struggles with reading so she doesn't read for pleasure at all, because it's more of a pain for her."

Loki turned the book over in his hands, inspecting the cover and the overall quality of it, "Thank you. I appreciate the thought."

Dianne smiled a little wider, "You're welcome. So…if that is all I'll just—."

"I do have a question," Loki said.

A look of worry replaced the smile on Dianne's face, "Yes?"

"I know your sister is different," Loki said, "But is it just her, or are…all of you…different?"

Dianne sighed, "I guess there really isn't any point in avoiding it. Yes, my sisters and I are… different, as you put it. My parents, are not. You…you won't tell anyone will you?"

Loki's brow furrowed as he looked at her in confusion, "And just who would I tell?"

"Well…I-I don't know exactly," Dianne said, "The last time suspicion was raised about odd abilities we might have, people in suits showed up and followed us around. They weren't too good about being inconspicuous, following us around wearing their suits in this small town."

"I guess I must look a little odd as well," Loki said, glancing down at his own Asgardian garb.

"Eh…yeah, to be completely honest, yeah," Dianne replied, "It suits you though, I can't argue with that."

"Thanks…I guess," Loki muttered.

Silence fell between them, and Dianne glanced back over to the ladder, before looking back at Loki, "So…I'll see you later then…when I come back with your dinner."

She got to her feet and was heading over to the ladder when Loki spoke up again.

"One other quick question," Loki asked, "What can _you_ do?"

Dianne smiled, "I guess you'll just have to stick around and see for yourself."

And then completely ignoring the ladder, she stepped off the loft edge. Loki quickly moved over to it and looked over, to see Dianne floating gently to the ground before walking to the door. Loki had a feeling there was more than just…_that_. Perhaps Loki would stay a little longer.

* * *

"Y-you…you flew in front of him?" Olyvia asked incredulously.

"Well, technically I floated," Dianne replied, "But why are you freaking out so much? It's not like he's normal. We both know he's capable of some sort of magic, otherwise how else could he be here?"

"A teleportation device," Olyvia muttered.

Dianne sighed, "Out of all of us, you are most definitely the most paranoid. Besides, this way he won't freak out when he sees Rosemary teleporting across the yard or you pick up a truck."

"Hey, that was one time, and I was just running a test," Olyvia rebutted, "No one was around… well, except for you."

"My point is, he will stay quiet knowing that it is…normal for us," Dianne explained.

"I guess you do have a point," Olyvia muttered, then sighed heavily, "Very well. But don't expect me to go flaunting my abilities or anything."

"I don't expect you to," Dianne said, "We should still try to keep them under wraps as much as we can."

Olyvia nodded in agreement. She most definitely didn't need to be told twice.

* * *

At six in the morning, Clint, Natasha and Steve were sitting in the truck, parked near the driveway to the Harris's house. They didn't want to be too obvious so they kept their distance. Steve was napping in the back, waiting for the other two to let him know when there was any activity and/or they needed him for something.

"Do you think once they leave the house we should put a few coms around there to keep an ear open for information?" Clint asked.

Natasha shrugged, "It might not be a bad idea."

"I…don't think that is a good idea though," Steve commented, "That'd be intruding on their privacy."

Natasha and Clint looked back at Steve, a questioning look on both of their faces.

"What?"

"Steve, we're S.H.I.E.L.D agents, we don't care much about privacy when it comes to looking into someone," Natasha replied.

"But," Clint intervened, "If it bothers you too much, then we won't."

"I would prefer we not," Steve said.

"Then if this mission takes longer, it's on you," Natasha said.

"I can live with that," Steve said.

"Then once everyone is gone, I'll take a walk around the place and scope it out, see what I can find," Natasha said, "Are you okay with that Rogers?"

Steve could tell by the tone of her voice that she wasn't all too pleased with him, "Yes, I'm okay with that."

Steve returned to his nap a few minutes later, trying to make himself as comfortable as he could in the back seat of the truck. It wasn't until nearly an hour later that something happened.

"Someone is leaving," Natasha said.

Steve jolted upright, and turned to look out the front window to see a medium sized dark green vehicle pull out of the driveway, two girls sitting in there. From the quick look Steve got, it looked to be Dianne and Rosemary. Natasha had a camera up, taking pictures, and only brought it down once they went around the corner.

"So we have two gone," Natasha said, looking at the back of the camera at the pictures she had taken, "Just three left."

"Are we sure those two are gone for the rest of the day though?" Clint asked.

"Well, it's Friday, I assume Rosemary has school," Natasha said, "And as for Dianne…well, I guess we'll wait and see. Their files aren't too up to date."

"They've been keeping a low profile," Clint said, "Which isn't surprising, given Rosemary Harris's incident at school. They didn't want to get any more attention after that."

"Really is the best idea," Natasha said.

Steve picked up his tablet and opened Rosemary's file to see what it said. Scanning over it, he found where it said she had apparently broken all the windows in the gymnasium when she got into a shouting match with a fellow student. Yeah, that would definitely raise some questions.

Flipping back to Olyvia's file, Steve looked over it again. He knew he was probably spending too much time on her file, staring at her picture for the most part. She really did look similar to Peggy, only… there was something different that he saw in her eyes, but he wasn't exactly sure as to what it was.

Turning it off, Steve settled back down into his seat, resuming where he left off with his nap. He had a feeling they would be there for a while, and he had absolutely nothing to do. After nearly an hour and a half had passed, another vehicle drove out from the driveway, this one similar to the one that had left previously due to being nearly the same color and shape. Hearing Natasha announce them leaving, Steve sat back up to look out the window again. Driving was an older woman, with short curly mousy brown hair, and in the passenger seat was Olyvia. They disappeared around the corner in a matter of seconds, and Natasha brought down her camera.

"So now we're still waiting for the father?" Clint asked.

Natasha nodded.

"Do we have any information on him?" Clint asked, "because I have a feeling we're missing something here."

Natasha opened up a laptop and turned it on, her fingers flying across the keys. She was silent as she searched through files, and spoke up a few minutes later.

"We just have a little, from previous agent's report," she said, "It looks like he goes to work the earliest, leaving at around six thirty in the morning."

"We've been here since six," Clint said, "The first ones to leave were Dianne and Rosemary, and that was at seven ten."

Natasha pursed her lips, "Perhaps he's sick?"

"Or gone?" Clint suggested, "It is hunting season, perhaps he went elsewhere to do that."

Strumming her fingers against the laptop, Natasha stared at the screen pensively. After a few seconds she came to a decision.

"I'm going to go take a look around, see if he's there or not," Natasha said, "I'll be right back."

"Don't get noticed," Clint said as Natasha climbed out of the truck.

"I can be invisible," she said before shutting the door.

Steve moved to where he was resting his elbows on the middle console as he leaned forward, watching as Natasha walked up the road and up the driveway.

"Do you expect she'll find much of anything?" he asked.

Clint shrugged, "Maybe not anything useful to our investigation, but I'm sure she'll pick up on a few things just by scoping out the place."

Steve just nodded slightly in response, and waited for Natasha to come back. It had only been about ten minutes before she returned, and slightly out of breath.

"What happened?" Clint asked, noticing her labored breathing.

"They have a dog," Natasha replied.

"Oh," Clint said, drawing out the word, "What kind?"

"I believe it was a Rottweiler," Natasha said, "And he didn't take kindly to me walking through his yard, so I booked it."

Clint chuckled, "I doubt he did. Did you find anything useful to our investigation?"

"They have a dog, proceed with caution," Natasha said, "Other than that…it looks like no one is home. There was only a broken down vehicle left in the driveway."

"So the father is elsewhere," Clint said, "Or…just gone."

"That is a possibility," Natasha agreed.

"So…what are we going to do now?" Steve asked.

Natasha and Clint looked over at each other, having a silent conversation between the two of them as to decide what to do. Clint eventually spoke up a few moments later.

"There really is little else for us to do today," Clint said, "It's too late to tail anyone. We'll place a camera at the driveway entrance so we can keep track of people coming and going," he then looked over to Steve, "That's not too intrusive to you is it?"

Steve sighed. They were never going to let him hear the end of that were they?

"No, it's not," Steve replied.

"Natasha, if you could get that set up?"

She nodded and grabbed a few things before hopping out of the truck once again. Once she had it set up, and tested that it worked, they headed back to their place. The first thing Natasha did when they arrived back, was set up the laptop with the camera feed going on the coffee table in the living room. They doubted anyone would be arriving within the next few hours, so they felt comfortable working on other things during those first few hours. Steve was familiarizing himself with all three files, not just Olyvia's, during that time, but it was as he was looking through hers again that he noticed something he had missed the last dozen times.

"What day is today?" Steve asked.

"Friday," Natasha replied, "I said that already."

"The date? What is the date?" Steve reiterated.

"The twenty-first," Clint replied this time, "Why?"

"Well…it's nothing too important, just something I noticed," Steve said.

"And?" Natasha asked, waiting for him to say what he found.

"It's Olyvia's birthday today," Steve replied.

The two agents grabbed their tablets and opened up Olyvia's file, and sure enough found that her birthdate was twenty-two years ago today.

"Anyone want to crash a party tonight?" Natasha asked.

"You're not really thinking of…just barging into their home are you?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Of course not Rogers," Natasha replied, "We'd be off their property and surveying them from there. You're not afraid of heights are you?"

"No…why?"

"Because we'll have to be up in the trees to have cover," Natasha replied, "Or are you not okay with us doing that either, because we're intruding on their privacy?"

Steve frowned, "Just…do what you have to, to get the job done then, I guess. Forget I said anything."

He still would prefer no microphones or cameras be installed in or near their property, because who knew what sort of unwanted conversations or images they might catch, that could never be erased from their minds. Then again, Clint and Natasha were probably used to that sort of thing, while Steve still had an innocent mind and perspective of the world.

Hours passed, and it was just past noon when the camera caught the mother heading back to the house, but she was alone this time. Not long after her arrival though, a truck they didn't recognize drove up. Natasha rolled back the video and paused it to see it was an older man in the driver seat. Quickly looking up another file on the laptop, she verified her suspicions.

"The father just arrived back at the house," Natasha said.

"So he is still around," Clint commented, looking over at the paused image on the screen.

Steve wandered over to take a look at it as well. You couldn't determine much of what he looked like from the picture, other than he had dark, greying hair, and small eyes.

"So when do we want to head over there then?" Clint asked Natasha.

"Let's get what we need and head over now," Natasha replied, "Make sure everything is set up once everyone is home."

Clint nodded, and began packing up different pieces of equipment, most of which Steve had no idea what it was. They were ready to go within minutes, the laptop being packed last. They didn't park outside their driveway this time, instead parking around the block and heading through the trees to reach the Harris's property. Once finding a tree Natasha and Clint found gave a good vantage point, it was up they climbed, Natasha using a few gizmos to give her a stable, flat space to set items on as well as sit on. From where they were in the tree, Steve could see the house nearly clearly, and a barn just to the left of it. Once all set up, Natasha made herself comfortable and set her hands in her lap.

"And now we wait."

"You guys are far more patient than I am," Steve said, "I don't see how you can stand all this waiting."

"It's part of the job, we've gotten used to it," Natasha said, "You should feel lucky Rogers, we've had missions where we've had to wait in a spot days at a time. This, we're pretty much guaranteed only a few hours of wait."

"I get it, I'll stop complaining," Steve said.

He had a bit more things to focus on this time though to keep him alert, such as the father walking around the place, doing something. It looked like he was carrying a roll of paper in his hand that got smaller every time he passed by.

"What is he doing?" Clint asked.

"You honestly expect we know?" Natasha asked in reply.

"Just asking out loud," Clint said, "Maybe we should have set up the audio amplifier."

"We'll wait to do that until everyone is home."

"Audio amplifier?" Steve asked.

"You'll see later," Clint replied.

Once the father returned inside, it wasn't much longer after that that the mother left, returning fifteen minutes later with Rosemary. Clint bet that the other two girls were working, and wouldn't be home until after five so when five o'clock rolled around, Natasha set up yet another piece of equipment, and aimed it to the house. She instantly began picking up voices.

"—it ready to frost yet?" Rosemary's voice came through.

"Don't touch! It's still cooling," the mother's voice replied.

"But she's going to be here any minute!"

"Go back to your homework Rosemary," her mother ordered.

"But it's English! I need your help!"

"I'm _busy_. Ask your dad."

There was silence for a moment before they nearly were blasted out of the tree from how loudly her voice came through. They could hear her shouting for her dad without it from where they were. Natasha turned it way down as she shook her head.

"Wow she's loud," she commented.

"What was that?" Clint asked sarcastically, holding a hand next to his ear, "I couldn't hear you."

"How about we keep that down until everyone else shows up?" Steve suggested.

"Good idea," Natasha agreed.

So waiting around another half hour, the last two finally arrived, and Natasha cautiously turned up the audio device.

"She's here! Dad go hide!" Rosemary was saying excitedly.

"What for?" he replied.

"Don't you want to surprise her?"

"She'll be surprised enough seeing me on the couch."

Natasha turned the device slightly to pick up the other two girls' voices better.

"Weekend! Thank goodness," one praised. They weren't sure who it was talking now since for Rosemary it was easy to determine her voice, due to how much younger it sounded than her mother's. "I get to sleep in tomorrow! Yay!"

"You never sleep in past eight anyway," the other rebutted.

"I can too! I—," the first suddenly stopped midsentence, "Dad's truck is here!"

Peering through the trees, Steve saw the blond book it too the door, and Natasha moved the device again to aim at the house.

"DAD!" Olyvia exclaimed. Now Steve at least knew who was talking.

"Hey there birthday girl," her father replied.

The only sounds they picked up for a few moments were sounds of doors opening and closing and things being dropped in the background before Olyvia spoke again.

"It feels like it's been months since I've last seen you. How long are you going to be here?"

"Just until Monday," her father replied, "Grandpa has been having difficulty dealing with your grandmother."

"Monday?" Olyvia asked despondently, "So soon?"

"I know it's not long," he replied, "but I'm the only one stepping up to the plate to help your grandma."

Natasha went ahead and adjusted volume again to where they could only barely still hear it, keeping a sharp ear out for anything that might actually be useful. Steve settled back down on the branch he was sitting on. This was going to be a long night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Not much excitement in this chapter, basically the characters getting to know Loki a little better, but the excitement will soon come.**

**Phantom's Ange: I just hope I'm able to pull Loki off well, and not be too OOC. He is just so difficult for me to write so I'm glad to know I've done okay so far.**

**Elizabeth14: It won't be pretty, but then again, confrontations never are.**

**CHAPTER THREE**

Olyvia was so excited to see that her dad had returned home in time for her birthday. It really was the only gift she wanted, to have her whole family with her. Once the hugs and reunion was finished, it was already time to eat dinner so the only time Olyvia had to get home was to kick off her shoes and toss her purse onto the couch. As they ate dinner, Olyvia noticed Dianne was constantly looking toward the window. She knew her sister was worried about their…guest. It would be a little more difficult to sneak him some food for dinner, which Olyvia was sure was part of Dianne's concern at the moment.

After dinner, the cake was then frosted and the candles placed and lit, and then it was time for them to sing to her. No matter how badly her dad sang, she was still glad to have him there.

"Now make a wish!" Rosemary said.

Olyvia thought for a second. What sort of wish did she really have to ask for? After deliberating for a short while, she came up with one, as simple as it was, it was just something to ask for.

_I wish to be able to go to college._

Taking in a deep breath, she blew out all the candles in one go. It was almost a silly wish, but she had been struggling saving up the money to be able to attend college, and her family earned just enough she wasn't eligible for financial aid.

"What did you wish for?" Rosemary asked as Dianne began removing candles.

"I asked for a pony," Olyvia replied.

"You want Kit then?"

"Do you want Cara?" Olyvia rebutted.

"Never mind," Rosemary quickly said. She didn't like the horse.

"Speaking of the horses, and pony," Olyvia added looking at her sister, "Could I go take Cara out for a ride after cake and ice cream?"

"_And_ opening presents," Rosemary said.

Olyvia rolled her eyes, then looked at her parents, her eyes repeating the question for her.

"I guess you could, as long as it's still light out," her mother replied.

"Okay," Olyvia said, quickly taking a piece of cake and scooping out a few scoops of ice cream into her bowl before heading to the living room to open the presents while she ate.

For her presents, she got more art supplies, such as a sketchbook, pencils and pens, and a few canvases for her to paint on, and then some sheet music from a band she enjoyed. The present she really liked though, was from Dianne, a pair of black pumps. She was so excited to have them she put them on right away and began walking around in those.

"Dianne, why did you ever get her those?" her father asked.

"She wanted them," Dianne replied, "Do you know how long she would go on and on about wanting a pair of pumps? Forever! She would gaze longingly at them whenever we passed a shoe store that had them on display."

"I like shoes," Olyvia said in her defense, "And pumps."

"Those aren't shoes, they're death traps," her father said.

Rosemary snickered at the comment, and to make matters worse, Olyvia finally tripped over them and went clattering to the ground.

"That…was on purpose," Olyvia said as she laid on her stomach on the floor.

"Klutz," Rosemary giggled.

Olyvia frowned at her as she pushed herself back up, taking off the pumps before getting to her feet all the way, "Anyway, I'm going to go ride Cara. Dianne, you want to come with me?"

Olyvia could see the cogs working in Dianne's brain as she realized _why_ her sister really wanted to ride her horse. So she could go out there and get Loki some food.

"Sure," Dianne said.

"Ooh, can I come too?" Rosemary asked.

"No," Olyvia and Dianne said at the same time.

"Why not?" Rosemary whined.

"Because…it's my birthday and I want some older sister bonding time," Olyvia said, "Besides, you take too long, trying to lug around Kit's saddle to get it on her. I don't have much time before the sun sets."

"Then how about tomorrow?" Rosemary asked.

"Sure, I have all day," Olyvia said.

"Didn't you want to go to the lake one more time before the weather cooled down?" Dianne asked.

"Oh right! Um…we can ride in the morning before it warms up, _then_ we'll all go the lake," Olyvia suggested, "Sound good?"

"Can Juan come to the lake with us?" Rosemary asked excitedly.

Olyvia sighed, "Yes, _Juan_ can tag along too."

Rosemary frowned, "Why must you always say his name like that?"

"Because it's fun."

Rosemary rolled her eyes, and went back to eating her ice cream. The girl was weird, she didn't eat her cake or ice cream together. She never liked her food touching, if it became mixed together, it was suddenly inedible.

Giving a nod over to Dianne, Olyvia fetched her shoes while Dianne headed into the kitchen. Olyvia hoped Loki wouldn't mind pizza. There was only one person she knew who didn't like pizza, and that was her dad. He would eat it if it was the only thing to eat, but otherwise he wouldn't ask for it.

Once her shoes were on, she headed outside toward the barn to see Dianne was already almost there. Quickening her pace, Olyvia reached it not much later.

"You go ahead and ride Cara, I think I'll just hang out here a little," Dianne said, glancing up to where Loki was peeking over the loft's edge.

"You don't think Mom and Dad won't find it suspicious that you didn't go riding with me?"

"I can just say I helped you out with gearing Cara up."

"You don't go anywhere near Cara."

"Right…okay then…I instead decided to brush Blaze and make him pretty, since you do a horrible job," Dianne said.

"I do not do a horrible job!"

"Just go ride your horse."

Olyvia muttered under her breath as she headed over to grab her saddle and bridle. Dianne went ahead and floated back up to the loft so she wouldn't have to bother juggling the food in her hands to climb the ladder.

"I'm still trying to get used to that," Loki said.

"What, you're not used to seeing people float in the air?"

"Not particularly."

"I uh…I have dinner again," Dianne said, "And have you been doing alright for lunches?"

"I'm fine," Loki said, "You really don't need to fuss over me so much."

"Yes she does," Olyvia said from down below.

Dianne scowled, "I'm not…_fussing_ over him."

"Whatever makes you sleep better at night," Olyvia said.

"I'm just trying to be…helpful…and nice," Dianne said quietly, looking shyly at Loki.

Loki's face softened slightly, instead of the hard, defensive look he usually kept on. He knew Dianne was just trying to be friendly. He just…wasn't used to people showing him kindness. Not anymore. Before this charade with the frost giants, and then with the Chituari and Thanos, there were some who liked him, but no more. No one trusted him. This mortal girl though, she didn't know of his wrongdoings, he was just another person to her, someone who looked in need of some help, and she was doing what most humans would. Help. Silly mortals, they could really get themselves into serious trouble by doing that, especially with the likes of him. Though…she really wasn't the average mortal.

"So…here's your dinner," Dianne said, holding out the plate.

Loki's brow furrowed as he took the plate, "What is this?"

"It's pizza," Dianne replied, "It's good. I also snuck you a piece of Olyvia's birthday cake."

"Ah," Loki said, inspecting the food. He wasn't quite sure how to eat it. She didn't bring him any utensils this time, did she expect him to eat it by hand?

"I'll probably be out riding for around an hour, 'kay Dia?" Olyvia called down from below as she walked her horse to the barn door.

"Alright," Dianne replied.

Dianne watched her sister go until she shut the door behind her, and turned back to Loki. She smiled in amusement as he tried to figure out how to eat the food.

"You hold it in your hands, and then you eat it," Dianne said, "Nothing too complex."

"Right…," Loki muttered, feeling awkward eating in front of her now.

Dianne wanted to stay around and chat with him for a while, so he would have some social contact, but she wasn't sure what to say. He took a seat and began eating, and Dianne looked around the barn, still trying to come up with something to talk about when she noticed _The Lord of the Rings_ sitting on his makeshift bed, a piece of straw stuck between the pages near the very end.

"So you read it?" Dianne asked, chancing to take a seat beside him, pointing over at the book.

Loki glanced over at it, "Oh, yes I did. It's a well written book. Thank you again for letting me borrow it."

"You're welcome," Dianne replied with a warm smile, "I see you've made quite a dent in it already."

"Well…I have plenty of time to read," Loki said.

Dianne's face fell hearing that. She felt awful that he was all alone up here. Then she had an idea.

"You know, tomorrow we'll be going to the lake to go swimming," Dianne began, "If you want… you could come. I would just have to tell my parents I'm bringing a friend."

Loki pursed his lips, "I…do not think that would be a good idea."

"Why not?" Dianne asked.

"It's just not a good idea for me to be out…where I can be seen," Loki said.

"Oh…," Dianne muttered sadly. She was kind of hoping to get him out a little…spend some time with him and get to know him.

"Besides, thanks to your sister, my shoulder isn't up to anything too straining," Loki added.

"How is it doing, by the way?" Dianne asked, "You said it would only take you a few days to recover."

"It's fully healed, but still sore," Loki replied.

"May I…see how it is?" Dianne asked quietly.

Loki debated over it a few seconds. It wasn't like she could do anything to help, but it just seemed she was curious about it, see how it was healing up for herself. It wasn't like showing her would hurt anything, except maybe his shoulder if he moved it around too much, so he began unbuttoning the front of his tunic. Pulling it off over his shoulders, he let it drop to the floor, and looked over to Dianne as she leaned in closer to inspect the injury. Dianne couldn't help but blush a little as she looked over his bare chest. He was quite muscular, for the slight build he appeared to be, his muscles hard and wiry from whatever training he had done. A shiver traveled down Loki's spine as Dianne's fingers lightly brushed over the red scar tissue that was healing on his shoulder. Her fingers felt so soft, and warm against his skin, which was rather cold compared to hers.

"Wow," Dianne said quietly, "It really has healed up quite a bit hasn't it? That's amazing."

"You being mortal, it would be rather remarkable to see wounds heal so quickly," Loki said.

"You say mortal as if it's a bad thing," Dianne said.

"Mortals are weak…typically," Loki said, thinking of the team that called themselves the Avengers, which consisted mostly of mortals so that was why Loki added the typically, "It's not…a quality one exactly favors."

Dianne just shrugged, "Everyone has their weaknesses, as well as strengths. Plus, as for me, I'm not quite as normal as your typical…mortal, as you so eloquently put it."

"I did not mean to offend you," Loki apologized.

"Oh none taken," Dianne assured him, "I…just assume that's how you talk. So…proper."

Seeing as she was done inspecting his injury, Loki grabbed his tunic and pulled it back on, buttoning it up once again. Dianne looked away, as if that would give him some privacy to dress himself, thinking it might make him a little more comfortable. She would have felt it awkward if someone continued to stare at her while she dressed. Glancing down at the empty plate, Dianne decided she may as well grab them and head inside. There really was no point of her staying longer, besides keeping Loki company, but he seemed to not really care whether he had company or not. So reaching over to the plate, she picked it up and began to get up when Loki spoke.

"If I may…could I ask you some questions about this book?" Loki asked, picking up said book and setting it in his lap.

Dianne smiled and sat back down, "Of course. Where shall we start?"

* * *

As the two older girls headed to the barn, Natasha turned the audio device to pick up on their conversation, but once they were inside the barn, there was some sort of interference so they couldn't pick up a single thing.

"Oh come on," Natasha whined as she gave the device a good whack, "How is this not working now?"

"Try the house again," Clint suggested.

Turning it, she picked up Rosemary's chatter so it wasn't the device that was broken, it was something in the barn that was keeping it from picking anything up.

"What do you suppose would be able to interfere with that?" Steve asked.

Both shrugged.

"Probably something Stark could answer," Clint replied, "Maybe when we call in our report tomorrow night we can ask him and see if he can figure it out."

Steve wasn't all that enthused about talking with Stark. He and the billionaire just didn't get along. He had gotten along just fine with his father, Howard, but he and Tony butted heads a lot.

After a few minutes of Natasha struggling with the device, Olyvia came back out of the barn, leading her horse through as well. Once the door was shut behind her, she mounted the horse and began to walk across the yard when a medium sized black dog ran over, yapping at the horse.

"That's not a Rottweiler Natasha," Clint said, looking over at his comrade who was starting to become really frustrated with the audio equipment.

"That's not the dog I saw," Natasha rebutted.

Olyvia scolded the dog for barking at the horse, and it began to wander off when another dog came bounding over, barking happily as it ran in circles around the horse. And this dog was _much_ bigger than the first. Clint's eyes grew wide. The dog was massive.

"_That's_ the dog that chased me out of the yard," Natasha said.

"Yeah…I'd run too," Clint said, "Are you sure it's a Rottweiler? Looks like a bear to me."

Over in the yard, the three could hear Olyvia talking to the dog.

"No Oscar, it's not playtime. Go to bed."

The dog stopped running around in circles and headed back around the other side of the house out of their view, moving rather slow as if it were upset over the fact that it had to go back to bed. Once he and the other dog were gone, Olyvia walked the horse in their direction, and opened up a gate in the fence.

"Shoot! She's heading this way," Natasha hissed.

"You better turn that off so she won't hear anything," Clint said, motioning to the audio device.

Natasha didn't have to be told twice and turned it completely off before moving to better hide herself. Clint and Steve were doing the same, hoping Olyvia wouldn't look up too much, or at all, otherwise she would spot them. They held their breath as she rode by at a trot, not so much as a glance up in their direction. Once they couldn't hear the sound of hooves anymore, they exhaled.

"I say we pack up and get out of here," Natasha said.

"I second the motion," Clint said.

"First things first though," Natasha tossed Clint something, which he easily caught, "Think you can get those on their vehicles so we can track their movements?"

"Sure no problem, only you only gave me two," Clint said.

"I'm only concerned about their two vehicles, not the father's truck," Natasha said.

Clint nodded, and then using a contraption similar to his bow, he shot the tracking devices onto the cars where they wouldn't be noticed with a passing glance.

"Done."

"Then let's get moving," Natasha ordered.

"Why are we tracking their vehicles?" Steve asked as he began to climb down.

"So we don't make it obvious we're following them when they go somewhere," Natasha said, "Such as the lake tomorrow. Anyone pack their swimsuit?"

Steve grimaced, "Are you serious?"

"I take that as a no."

Steve sighed heavily. He had a feeling this was going to be…uncomfortable.

* * *

After breakfast the next day, Olyvia and Rosemary went out on the ride she promised her, making sure Rosemary didn't spot Loki hiding up in the loft, before coming back in time for lunch. After their meal, they and their parents began preparing for their day out at the lake. Dianne however, didn't seem to want to go, and just sat in the living room as she watched everyone walk to and fro.

"Aren't you coming?" Olyvia asked.

Dianne shook her head, "No. I'm not feeling up to swimming."

Olyvia raised an eyebrow at her sister. She knew that it wasn't because it she didn't feel like swimming that she didn't want to go. She wanted to stay behind with Loki.

"Uh huh," Olyvia muttered, "Your loss then."

"I'm not as much of a swimming fanatic as you are," Dianne rebutted, "I think I'll survive."

Olyvia just shrugged before continuing past her sister as she finished up gathering all the needed supplies. As Rosemary ran through the living room, arms full with her towel and goggles, she too asked if Dianne was going, but didn't prod too much after Dianne said she had cramps.

"Well, have fun without us," Olyvia shouted as they exited the house, "We will be having a blast without you!"

"If you're trying to change my mind, it's not working," Dianne shouted back.

Everyone shouted goodbye to her, and she replied in kind. Moving to a window, she watched them leave, and once they were out of sight down the driveway, she took off out the back door and towards the barn.

"Loki?" she called out as she entered the barn.

"I'm still here," Loki replied.

Dianne went ahead and just climbed up the ladder to the loft. Reaching the top, she found Loki leaning back against the wall as he sat, reading a book. Glancing up and seeing her there, he closed the book.

"Is there something you need?" Loki asked.

Dianne went over and sat down in front of him, "I don't need anything, I just wanted to invite you to take a ride with me. Or a walk, or whatever you'd like. Something to get you out and get some fresh air. It isn't good for you to be cooped up in here all the time.

"I'm not imprisoned here, I do leave on occasion," Loki said, though he wasn't going to say as to why. Those were things one just didn't speak of to someone else.

"Oh…well…it's just my family is gone for a few hours, and I thought…we could do something together…just for fun," Dianne said, "You'll be able to have the chance to get out and about for longer than brief trips out of here, which is what I'm sure you have been doing."

Loki nodded. It was what he had been doing. He could stand to spend a little more time doing something other than sitting and reading. _But_ the way he looked didn't quite fit in around here, and he could most definitely use a bath. It had been _days_ since he last had the chance.

"If I were to do anything, I would prefer to freshen up," Loki said.

"Oh…," Dianne muttered, "Yeah, that would make sense. Um…well since I know people will be gone for a while, I'll let you go ahead and do that. Would you…like for me to find you some clothes? I know nothing of my dad's will fit you but…I can run to a store really quick."

"You don't need—," Loki began.

"Then it's settled," Dianne said as she got to her feet, "Come inside so I can get measurements, then I will go while you do your thing, and then I shall be back."

Loki didn't even have the chance to argue before Dianne jumped off the loft's edge. She was waiting at the door by the time Loki wandered over to the edge.

"Well hurry up," she said.

Loki sighed. It looked like she wouldn't take no for an answer.

* * *

When Clint, Natasha and Steve were alerted the family was on the move, it was time for them to suit up and get going themselves. Much to Steve's relief, there was no surety that he would be required to do any swimming, or having any lack of clothing. Steve felt rather uncomfortable being in any state of undress.

Taking the tracking device with them, Clint gave Natasha directions as they followed the family to their destination. They first drove past the point where the family stopped, glad to see it was a rather public area, a few more people there as well, so them being there wouldn't appear to look too suspicious. Once parked, it was down to the lake they went. As they came closer to the shore, they found that there was one person missing. Apparently Dianne did not come. The remainder of the family was still getting their little spot together, no one making it in the water yet. Olyvia was putting sunscreen on Rosemary, glancing over to the water constantly. She looked rather anxious to get in.

"Dang she's _skinny_," Natasha commented to Clint.

"Rosemary?" Clint asked.

"Who else would I be talking about?"

Clint nodded in agreement. Rosemary certainly was skinny, but not in an unhealthy way. She just…had an extremely small build. Olyvia dwarfed her sister when standing next to her. The boy that was there with them too dwarfed her as well. They didn't know who he was, though they suspected it was possibly the person who was brought up last night in the conversation they caught about when they were discussing going to the Lake. What was the name again? It was something Mexican sounding. Juan? Yes, that was it, Juan.

Steve had glanced over to see what the two were talking about as well, but after noting how skinny Rosemary was, and looking over at Olyvia, just because she was there, he averted his gaze. The swimsuit Rosemary was wearing at least covered her whole torso. Olyvia however, was wearing one of those bikinis that Natasha was wearing today, though Olyvia's covered more than hers, her bottoms being shorts instead of…the other kind. Steve felt awkward watching someone who wasn't so covered up. Back in the forties, it would be public indecency to be so exposed to go swimming.

As Olyvia was helping put sunscreen on her sister's back, movement caught her eye and she turned to see what it was, just out of habit. It was just three people, coming to the lake as well to enjoy the last remaining swimmable days of the year. She wouldn't have paid them too much notice, had it not been for one in particular. Her face grew warm as she turned her face to look down at her sister's back. The tall blond guy was just…just…so cute! Olyvia kept glancing up to catch glimpses of him as he followed his friends. She felt slightly disappointed to see they were moving further down the shore.

"You done yet Livy?" Rosemary asked.

Olyvia was snapped back to attention, "Yes! I'm done."

Rosemary adjusted the straps of her sea blue plaid tankini on her shoulders before turning and heading to the water. When her feet hit the water, she squeaked and her progression slowed to nearly a dead stop. Juan joined her at her side, and began complaining about the cold.

"It's not cold you sissies," Olyvia said as she carried a huge innertube from the vehicle down to the water, "The water is perfect!"

"You haven't even touched it yet," Rosemary said.

Placing the innertube down on the ground next to the water, Olyvia headed in, not flinching at all as the water enveloped her body. Once she was in at the waist, she jumped right in.

"Crazy," Rosemary muttered under her breath.

"Toss me the innertube will you?" Olyvia asked, "Please?"

With a sigh, Rosemary turned back around and took the two steps out of the water to reach said innertube, and then drug it into the water as Olyvia swam closer to get it. Rosemary dropped it over Olyvia so she was in the middle. Olyvia did her best to drape her arms over the sides, but the hole in the middle was too big, her forearms were just resting on the tube.

"So Midget," Olyvia began, "did you see that blond guy who is now over that-a-way?"

Olyvia used her head to motion in which direction he was, and Rosemary turned to look over for a few seconds before back to her sister.

"There are two blond guys, but yes, I see them," Rosemary said, "Why?"

"Isn't the tall one cute?" Olyvia asked with a goofy smile.

Rosemary turned around again, and when she faced her sister again, shrugged, "Eh, I guess."

"You guess? What is wrong with you?" Olyvia asked, appalled by her sister's indifference to the man's extremely good looks.

"One, he looks to be ten years older than me," Rosemary began, "And two, I have a boyfriend, and I think only he is cute."

Rosemary leaned over to Juan and wrapped her arms around him as if to emphasize her meaning, and he returned the hug.

"Hey, I think Johnny Depp is hot, and he's at least twice my age," Olyvia rebutted.

Rosemary made a face, "Just go swimming already."

"Okay!" Olyvia said excitedly, swiveling around with the innertube and flapping her hands about as she used her legs to swim out.

Believing they were a good distance away from the family, while still being able to keep an eye on them, the three S.H.I.E.L.D agents stopped and set up their own spot. Steve sat down on a rock, and stared out over the lake. It was hot, but he had no intention of getting in the water. He was uncomfortable enough as it was. He couldn't look as his companions or the family he was to keep an eye on because at least one on both sides weren't wearing enough, according to him. Plus, he didn't think it was a good thing to be attracted to someone who you are supposed to be keeping an eye on, and keeping your distance from.

Occasionally glancing over to the Harris family, there wasn't much going on. Rosemary was slowly making her way into the water, as were her parents. Rosemary was in sooner than they were, but that was also probably due to her height, more than anything. They weren't paying too much attention to them, not wanting to give away they were watching them, but they all jolted upright from their seats on the ground when they heard a shriek, and looked over to see what was happening. All they saw was Olyvia falling into the water, having gone over the side somehow from where she was slung across the middle. A second later though, Rosemary's head popped up in the middle of the innertube, cackling maniacally. Natasha pursed her lips to keep herself from laughing. She could already see where this was going.

Rosemary screamed as Olyvia came bursting out of the water, throwing herself onto the innertube, and began to grab for her sister, who ducked back into the water to get away. Olyvia went up and over the innertube, going back into the water through the middle in pursuit of her younger sibling. Rosemary hit the surface, and was swimming as fast as she could back to shore when Olyvia came out of the water again, landing on her sister when she came back down, grabbing her in the process.

"Olyvia Marie, let go of your sister before you drown her!" their mother scolded once they were above the water again.

Olyvia let go, and sunk down into the water to where only her eyes were above as she glared at her sister as she swam away. Retreating back to the innertube, Olyvia continued to glare at her sister.

"Oh come on, you would have done it too," Rosemary said, from the safety of her boyfriend's arms.

"That's because _I'm_ the one you guys don't want to mess with, I wouldn't have to worry about retaliation," Olyvia rebutted, "You have just lost your innertube rights."

Rosemary pouted, and went over to Juan to keep him company again. As the time passed, it just seemed to get hotter, and hotter. Natasha had jumped into the water to cool herself off, and was now drying off on her beach towel. Having done nothing but read a book he brought, Steve was starting to think he should cool himself down before he had a stroke.

"You actually getting in?" Natasha asked as Steve began to remove his shirt.

"It's far too hot," Steve replied, folding up his shirt and setting it down on the rock.

Natasha wasn't going to argue, admiring her view as he headed into the water. Clint looked from Natasha, to where her eyes were, then back to Natasha. Feeling a little jealous, Clint got up as well, and took off his shirt.

"I think I'm going in too," Clint said.

"You do that," Natasha said, only glancing over at him briefly before lying back down and putting her sunglasses back on.

Clint frowned, feeling a little slighted, and then glared over at Steve in the water. Stupid super soldier and his super soldier serum. With a sigh, he headed into the water. He had taken off his shirt, so he may as well get in. He and Steve didn't spend too much time in the water, just enough to cool themselves down, before getting out again.

The Harris family stayed at the Lake for another hour before packing up and leaving. Steve, Clint and Natasha waited until they were gone before packing up themselves. There was only one thing they were really curious about, and that was why Dianne hadn't come with the rest of the family. Perhaps when they got back to their place, they would be able to find out.

* * *

Loki had no idea how to run this shower the mortals had, and Dianne was quite embarrassed explaining everything to him. Once she had done that though, she skedaddled and Loki was left to himself. He was so glad to finally be able to get cleaned up, and he had taken so long to clean off all the grime that Dianne had made it back home before he was done. There were a pile of clothes for him left on the edge of the counter, as if she had opened the door just enough to get them through so he went ahead and changed into them. The outfit consisted of a forest green short-sleeved shirt, black pants, and a pair of undergarments folded in between the two. He could still wear his own shoes, so he wasn't too worried about that. Once dressed, he ventured out into the hallway and just began walking, looking for Dianne. He found her in a large room, sitting on a couch.

"Ah, good they fit," Dianne said, "Though…a t-shirt and jeans almost looks a little odd on you. Perhaps something else would have suited you better, but oh well."

Loki had no idea what a t-shirt and jeans were, so he just stayed silent, though he assumed it was what he was wearing.

"Um…anyway, let me wash your other clothes, that way I can try to get it done before people come home," Dianne said.

Since he had them in his hand, he handed them over and Dianne took off without a word. Loki just stood there, looking around at the walls since he had nothing better to do. There were a lot of framed pictures on the walls, and Loki walked over to one to begin looking at them up close from there. They were of Dianne's family, all at different ages. There were even a few pictures of someone he had no clue who they were, having not seen them around the house. In each picture though, everyone was smiling, clearly enjoying the company of their family. Loki's heart grew heavy. He used to have such a childhood, having played with his brother, believing he was his brother, enjoying himself. Now…they all seemed like lies to him. How could anyone love him…being what he was.

"That picture was taken at my grandparent's house," Dianne said from beside him, startling Loki slightly. He hadn't even heard her return, "If you weren't able to figure it out, he has a lot of cats."

Loki turned back to the picture he was looking at, which was of Dianne and Olyvia, sitting down on a wooden deck, at least five cats each crawling on them, with even more still walking around their crossed legs.

"Who needs so many of such…useless animals?" Loki asked.

Dianne frowned, "Cats aren't useless. They keep us company. Besides, most of his were feral."

"I prefer the company of a book," Loki said.

"What about the company of another person?"

"Depends on the person," Loki replied.

Dianne couldn't think of anything to say to that, so instead looked back to the wall of photos. She couldn't help but think that was a bit of a slight to her with that comment, that he didn't want her company. She was just trying to be friendly.

"Who is this?" Loki asked, pointing at another photo.

Dianne glanced over to see where he was pointing before replying, "Oh, that's my oldest sister, Kristen."

Loki's brows furrowed, looking to Dianne then to the picture again, "I don't see much of a family resemblance."

"Well that's probably because she's technically my half-sister," Dianne replied.

Loki looked back to Dianne, looking a little surprised at this news.

"You still call her your sister though?" Loki asked.

Now it was Dianne who looked confused, "Of course. We grew up together, raised by the same parents, she was still my sister. Plus, she was so close to all of us, we never even gave the half-sister thing a second thought. We don't point it out unless someone specifically asks. What makes you think I wouldn't?"

Loki stayed silent. It wasn't any of her business, his family issues. Dianne didn't need him to say anything to figure that out though.

"Did you…find out one of your parents wasn't your…real parent?" Dianne asked.

"More like both," Loki said bitterly.

"Oh," Dianne muttered, "Found out you were adopted then."

"They lied to me my whole life," Loki said, a little surprised with himself that he was telling this human girl about his troubles, "And they wouldn't have told me if I hadn't figured it out for myself."

"I'm sure they were only concerned for you."

Loki scoffed, "You don't understand any of it. My father took me in plans of using me in the future. He did not love me. How could he? I was the child of his enemy."

Dianne stayed silent. There was a lot she wasn't getting here, and it seemed to be a much bigger issue than any typical adoption around here. She wanted to understand though so that she may understand him better.

"We have time, if you wish to explain it to me so that I may understand," Dianne said.

"There is no business for you to know," Loki snapped.

Dianne held her hands up as if to surrender, "Hey, you were the one telling me all about it earlier. And I didn't ask, I offered merely to listen. Sometimes talking helps."

Loki pursed his lips. She was right, he had just been telling her. Perhaps he shouldn't have snapped at her. It would just be better if he just left already. He was fully healed, he should, but there was something that was keeping him from leaving. It wasn't the puzzle that this family put before him, no it wasn't that, it was something else.

He was pulled from his thoughts as he felt something warm wrap around his hand. He hardly had the time to look down to see Dianne had grabbed his hand before he found himself being pulled behind her.

"I know what else will help," Dianne said, "Some fresh air. Pick a horse and we'll go for a ride."

There was no use arguing with Dianne, Loki knew that already, so he let himself be drug behind her, heading back to the barn. As he followed her, he thought that perhaps he was starting to understand what it really was that was keeping him here.


	4. Chapter 4

**So I'm back in school so there is the slightest chance that I might be able to update more often, since I do not have internet at my house, **_**but**_** I make no promises.**

**RipplesOfAqua: You're review made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I'm glad you like the story. And who wouldn't admire the view if Steve Rogers was standing in front of them shirtless? Pardon my drool.**

**Elizabeth14: Dianne and Loki really do get along fairly well, don't they?**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

When the Harris' arrived home, Olyvia immediately went off in search for Dianne. Looking around the house, she didn't find her sister so she knew where she was. Taking a moment to change out of her swimsuit into her normal clothes, she then headed out to the barn. She could hear Dianne talking so heading to the ladder, she climbed up.

"We're home, by the way," Olyvia said as she reached the top.

"Livy, you scared me," Dianne said, a hand on her chest, "I was worried you were Rosemary."

"You would have heard her far before you heard me," Olyvia pointed out.

Dianne nodded in agreement, "True. Okay, no need to hide anymore."

Olyvia leaned back in surprise when Loki materialized out of thin air, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall. She doubted he had moved from his spot to hide, merely concealing himself somehow right where he was sitting.

"Okay…that was weird," Olyvia muttered, "Anyway, Dia, Dia, Dia, I needs to talk to you. So come inside, please?"

Dianne raised an eyebrow. It sounded important, but from how excited she sounded, Dianne doubted that was the case.

"Can it wait a few minutes?"

Olyvia pouted, "I guess it could. I'll be in my bedroom when you're done here."

Dianne nodded, and Olyvia climbed back down the ladder and headed back to the house. Once in her room, she flopped down onto the bed, and stared up at the ceiling with a dreamy expression on her face. Today had been a good day.

After a few minutes, Dianne showed up like she said she would.

"Okay, what is it?"

Olyvia moved around on her bed until she was facing her sister, rolling over onto her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows and resting her head in her hands, "You missed a really good lake trip."

"That's all you wanted to tell me?" Dianne asked incredulously.

"You missed out, on seeing, the most beautiful, gorgeous man _ever_ created," Olyvia said, a dreamy smile on her face.

Dianne brought the palm of her hand to her forehead, "Oh geez. You have a crush on someone you just saw?"

"Isn't that how it usually happens?"

Dianne rolled her eyes, "What made this guy so dreamy?"

"He was…ah, he was just so handsome," Olyvia gushed, "Beautiful blond hair, chiseled jaw…and he had a body of a god."

Dianne raised an eyebrow at her sister. She swore she could see her drooling.

"You know, technically Loki would have a body of a god since he is Loki. God of Lies and Mischief you know?"

Dianne just realized how bad that sounded. God of Lies and Mischief. Yeah, that didn't paint a very good picture of Loki.

"The muscles…"

Now Dianne was starting to really worry about her sister, her eyebrow raising up even higher, "You didn't hear a single word I said, did you?"

Olyvia merely sighed dreamily.

"Didn't think so. You do realize you're obsessing over a guy who you only think is cute, and will probably never see again," Dianne said, "You don't know what kind of guy he really is."

Olyvia sighed heavily, "I know you're right…but he was so cute!"

Sitting down on the bed, Dianne clapped Olyvia on the shoulder, "Well…there is always the chance you'll see him again."

"Perhaps," Olyvia said, "Not like I'd have the guts to talk to him though. Anyway…so when did you see Loki's body to say he has a body of a god?"

Dianne's face flushed red, "I thought you didn't hear that?"

"I was only half listening."

"I haven't!" Dianne said, "I was just saying…I mean, he _is_ Loki, a god in Norse Mythology…and apparently real, but anyway, that is all that I meant by it and you know it."

"I know, I'm just teasing," Olyvia said, "But it is obvious you already like him."

Dianne's face darkened a few more shades of crimson, "Well h-he…he seems like…a nice guy."

Olyvia rolled over onto her back, "I wouldn't know. He doesn't talk to me. Or spend time with me, though I don't go out of my way to hang out with him."

"Speaking about hanging out with him, you won't believe what happened today," Dianne said, "Loki actually rode Cara today."

Olyvia's eyes widened in shock, "No way. She actually let him get close?"

Dianne nodded, "Very surprising, I know. Cara is very picky about who she lets near her. I think it only goes to prove that he's a good guy. If he wasn't, Cara wouldn't let him near her stall."

Olyvia shrugged, "Eh, I guess. We wouldn't have let him stay here anyway if we thought he was a bad person so we kind of figured he was a decent person."

"True," Dianne agreed, "Though…I doubt he's completely innocent of any wrongdoing. Everyone makes mistakes."

"Even gods?"

Dianne rolled her eyes, "He's not a God god, so yes, even them."

"Well, I have a feeling he made a big boo-boo, otherwise why would he be running?"

Dianne pursed her lips. Olyvia had a point. She couldn't help but wonder what sort of thing Loki could be running from.

* * *

After the Lake, the three agents decided it would be best if they returned to their quarters and give Fury their report, since it was late in the afternoon and the time difference between the two coasts was over three hours. Setting up the laptop for the report, Natasha contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. An agent first showed up on the screen, before going to fetch Fury for them. He arrived, along with Stark, Bruce and Thor.

"What did you find?" Fury asked.

"Practically nothing," Natasha replied, "Loki apparently disappeared from the hospital before he was to be discharged. The time period of which they believed he left is near the same time the two Harris girls left the building. There is still the chance he may be nearby or they know where he is. We haven't picked up anything from them so far of whether they even know who he is."

"They don't seem to be acting strangely either," Clint added.

"Let me remind you Agent Barton that when you were being mind-controlled by Loki, you, for the most part, didn't act strangely," Fury said, "He could have these girls under his control if he saw fit for it."

"Such as?" Steve asked.

"If our suspicions are true, that they have some sort of abilities, Loki could use them to his advantage," Fury replied, "Now have you found anything to verify our suspicions on that subject?"

"Does lifting your younger sister over your head to throw her into the lake count?" Natasha asked.

"What?" Stark asked from behind Fury.

"We followed the family to the lake today Stark," Natasha reiterated, "Now, the youngest daughter, Rosemary, may be small, but it still takes a bit of strength to lift a hundred pounds over your head."

"And just who did that?" Stark asked.

Natasha hit a few keys on the keyboard, bringing up the surveillance photos they had taken over the last few days, some of which Natasha managed to get while at the lake, such as the point in the visit when Olyvia got her hands on Rosemary and tossed her into the water.

"Oh wow," Stark said.

"She is strong," Bruce said in agreement.

"That wasn't what I was wowing about," Stark said, "She's hot."

Steve wished he was back at headquarters for just a second to give Stark a much deserved whack on the head.

"The other sister is pretty hot too," Stark commented, scanning over the pictures.

"I hope you are referring to Dianne, Stark," Natasha said.

"Of course," Stark replied, "I'm not a dirty old man. The little girl is only what…thirteen? She has yet to grow into her looks. She is cute though."

"Actually she's sixteen," Clint said, "Turning seventeen in three months."  
Stark's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his skull they grew so wide, "Holy sh—."

"So you found nothing on them," Fury stated rather than asked.

"No sir," Natasha replied, "I do, however, have something for Stark to look over, see if he can determine what could cause interference with our audio receiver."

"Finally, something for me to do," Stark said with a sigh of relief.

Fury pursed his lips, a pensive expression on his face as he debated on what to do next.

"I want you to continue to keep an eye on them," Fury said after a few moments of silence, "If anything gives you reason to believe they know where Loki went or where his whereabouts are, inform me, then question them. I still want you actively looking for Loki though. If he did in fact leave the area, I don't want him getting too far."

"Yes sir," Natasha and Clint replied in unison, Steve chiming in a second later.

The transmittance then cut out, and they were staring at a blank screen. Natasha turned everything off and pulled up the video feed at the Harris's driveway.

"Now let's see if Dianne went anywhere today," Natasha muttered to herself as she went back in the recorded data.

Clint headed off elsewhere while Natasha did that, and Steve decided to go into the kitchen and make himself some dinner. He hadn't had much of a lunch, and he was starving. Only a few minutes into making himself a sandwich, he heard Natasha calling for him and Clint.

"Dianne left the house just ten minutes after everyone else, but returned not long after," Natasha said once the other two were in the living room.

"What's so odd about that?" Clint asked, "Maybe she just needed to make a shopping trip."

Natasha was uncertain. She had a feeling it was something else, but there was nothing in the video that gave any clues to where she had gone. Natasha found it slightly suspicious that she waited until everyone else had left.

"Maybe it's nothing," Natasha said, "Or maybe she's hiding something."

"So we'll be tailing her then the next few days?" Clint asked.

Natasha nodded, "See what else we can find."

When Natasha didn't say anything for a few seconds, Steve figured that was the end of the discussion and snuck back into the kitchen. It was time to get back to his food before there were any more interruptions.

* * *

The following day was Sunday, and watching the camera feed, saw the family leave in the morning, Clint guessing they were going to church possibly. With them gone, they decided that would be the best time for them to head over and set up their equipment in the trees again and wait for the family to return home. So making themselves comfortable in the same tree they had been in two days ago, they waited for the family to arrive back home. Natasha was becoming even more frustrated with the audio device. It wouldn't work at all on anything on the Harris property since she turned it on when they arrived at the house. Now they knew something was up, and needed to talk to Stark as soon as they could about it. So they were reduced to merely watching. At least there were times they could hear Rosemary, when she was shouting for one of her sisters or merely upset with one of them. So far their reconnaissance wasn't going over very well. In the last three hours of the family being home, they got absolutely nothing. Dianne had merely made a few trips to the barn, Olyvia coming along once, and she had stayed in there for quite some time while Olyvia left not long after and played out in the yard with the bear of a dog they had. So perhaps there was something in the barn they should check, but that meant going into the yard, where the dog lived, the same dog who chased Natasha off a few days before.

"We're wasting our time here," Natasha groaned, leaning her head against the trunk of the tree, "We're just sitting, and watching them do nothing."

"What we need to do is get into the barn and see what the heck is keeping Dianne occupied for hours at a time," Clint said.

"You are welcome to try," Natasha said, motioning over to where Olyvia and the dog, Oscar, were playing.

Clint grimaced, "Yeah…I'm not going to try that anytime soon."

Natasha glanced over to Steve, "What about you? You want to try to get in?"

Steve looked over to the dog. He…seemed harmless enough, with how he was interacting with Olyvia, but then again, she was one of his owners, he knew her. Steve didn't want to needlessly hurt the dog to get the job done.

"I…don't think so."

Natasha wasn't surprised by his answer, and went back to watching the yard. Olyvia soon got tired of playing with the dog, and headed inside so it was back to being bored. After another hour, and no sign of anyone, or their audio device starting to work again, they packed up and headed back to the house. Making further plans, they decided to keep watch on the video feed on the driveway camera from the house to wait for everyone to leave the house again so they could try to get into the barn. Only when Monday rolled around, everyone except Dianne had left, her father being the last one to leave to head back to his parents place in the afternoon, and then Olyvia returned home an hour later.

"This is frustrating!" Natasha groaned as she slapped her hands over her face, "Who has Mondays off?"

"Apparently Dianne and Olyvia do," Clint said, "Well…for the most part Olyvia does."

"Okay, tomorrow, everyone better be gone," Natasha said threateningly at the computer, resting her head on her hands that laid on the table as she glared at the screen.

Much to Natasha's satisfaction, everyone was out of the house by nine the next day.

"Let's move," she ordered, quickly grabbing the items she would need and headed to the door.

The other two followed, and instead of driving directly to the Harris's house, they parked somewhere behind so they could try to get to the barn without alerting the dog.

"Alright, you two will go to the barn, I'll stay and keep an eye on things back here," Natasha ordered.

Both Clint and Steve looked over at Natasha with a look saying they'd rather not have to do that, but she was apparently taking the role of the leader, and they would do as she said. So after making sure the coast was clear, no one being as far out in the hills as they were, Clint and Steve made their way into the woods.

"Do you think we'll find anything, if we even reach the barn?" Steve asked.

"I hope we find something," Clint replied, "Otherwise we'll have wound up walking through poison oak twice for nothing, and most likely chased by a dog."

"Poison oak!" Steve exclaimed, taking a few steps away from the plants he was walking next to.

Clint laughed, "I'm just messing with you, we're not walking through poison oak."

Steve wasn't too keen on trusting him right away on that, so he was very wary of where he stepped now. After five minutes of walking, they came upon a chain link fence, from which they could see the Harris's yard, but more specifically, the barn.

"Do you see the dog anywhere?" Clint asked.

Steve couldn't see too well through the trees, but he didn't see anything big and black lumbering around, so he gave Clint the okay. Using a nearby tree, Clint first climbed up and dropped down on the other side of the fence, Steve following once Clint motioned for him to do so. Moving as quietly as they could through the trees, they made their way over to the barn, and reached the backside of it without any problems. Peeking around the corner, Clint looked around for any sign of movement.

"Coast is clear," Clint said, moving along the next wall to make his way around to the front.

"So far," Steve muttered. He was expecting that dog to come running over any second now.

Steve kept a look out as Clint cautiously opened the door, slipping in after him once he had gone through. Turning around, he saw nothing out of the ordinary; it was just a barn with a few animals inside.

"I was expecting…something different in here," Clint muttered.

"Such as?"

"Something that would explain the reason as to why some of our equipment won't work," Clint replied.

Clint suddenly whipped his head around, looking up towards the loft, "Did you hear that?"

Steve paused. Hear what exactly?

"No…," he replied.

Clint didn't waste any time and began climbing up the ladder to the loft. Steve decided to follow instead of waiting on the ground for him. Reaching the top, Steve found Clint searching around, digging through the pile of hay up there in case someone, or something, was hiding in there. After a few seconds, he stepped back with a frustrated sigh.

"Nothing?" Steve asked.

"I wouldn't say nothing, exactly," Clint replied, "Come look over here."

Heading around to the other side of the mound of hay, Steve saw what Clint was referring to.

"It looks like someone has been camping out here," Clint said, "And what would you want to bet it's not any of the girls?"

Steve's brow furrowed as he thought over the possibility for a few seconds, "Well…it's not like we have stayed late enough in the evening to see whether they stay in the house. For all we know, they could be."

"It's possible, but likely? I doubt it," Clint said, pulling something out from a pouch on his belt.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked.

"Setting up a camera," Clint said, "To solve this dilemma."

Steve was about to argue, but clenched his jaw to keep himself from talking. The two just didn't really care about other people's privacy did they? Well, Steve knew that he for one would _not_ be looking at any of the footage the camera would catch. It would make him feel better about the whole situation.

As Clint walked over to a corner of the walls to place the camera, Steve swore he felt something brush against his left arm. Whirling around, Steve frantically looked about to see what had done it.

"You alright Rogers?" Clint asked.

"I think something is in here," Steve replied, "Something just brushed against me."

"You're probably just imagining it," Clint replied, placing the small, tiny, _miniscule _camera way up in the corner, "There. Now we can go."

Steve didn't need to be told twice, heading down the ladder first. Clint was right behind him as he opened the barn door, and stopped abruptly mid-stride, causing Clint to run into him.

"Now what?" Clint asked, sounding a little irritated.

"Dog," Steve replied, pointing over to the back deck of the house.

Clint had to stand on his tip-toes to look over Steve's shoulder, and saw the Rottweiler lift its head, and realize they weren't familiar people as its ears flattened to its head and it began barking, lunging off the porch.

"Run!" Clint said, pushing Steve forward so he could get through the door, and took off into the trees. It wasn't like they could do anything to the dog without the family noticing so the only option they had was to avoid it.

Getting a head start didn't help Clint any though, Steve was faster and quickly got ahead of him, leaving him the one in the rear with the dog catching up quickly.

As they neared the fence, Steve stopped, and once Clint was within his reach, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him over the fence before getting just the slightest bit of a running start and jumping over himself.

"That was too close," Clint breathed, looking back to the fence where the dog had stopped, but twenty feet away. It barked a few times before taking a few steps back, whimpering, and then turned around and took off back to the house. Clint and Steve looked at each other in confusion.

"What was that about?" Steve asked.

Clint cautiously got to his feet. There was something upsetting the dog, and Clint doubted it was anything normal for these areas. Clint looked around, searching for whatever may have been the cause of the dog's unease, when he spotted it after he turned a 180. Up in a tree was a humanoid creature, but looked more reptilian than human. Seeing that it had been spotted, it leapt from the tree at Clint, morphing into a large, four legged reptilian looking creature, giving a loud screech as it launched itself. Steve whirled around just in time to see it land on Clint, taking him to the ground. Steve didn't waste any time grabbing it and throwing it off Clint. He was ready to take it on bare handed, but Clint was on his feet quickly, and pulling out his bow, quickly knocked an arrow and shot. As always, it hit true, shooting right into the creature's eye and killing it instantly. The two took very short, and cautious steps toward the body, trying to get a better look at the thing.

"What is that?" Steve asked.

"No idea," Clint said, putting his bow and arrows away and pulling out a small camera, "Let's see if someone else can identify this thing."

* * *

Before they returned to their house, Clint had Natasha take a look at the creature they ran into, her equally as unsure as to its origin. Back at their current residence, Natasha made the call to S.H.I.E.L.D. Since they weren't due for another report until the end of the week, she was sure this call would cause some panic. Fury relaxed slightly hearing they only needed something identified, and Clint uploaded the pictures onto the computer to where Fury could also see them. They didn't expect him to know, which he didn't, but since it looked alien Fury called for Thor to see if he knew of them. They were all disappointed to hear that he did not recognize or know of them. So again they were at a dead end. They knew though that that creature didn't just appear randomly. It had to be there for a reason, and they had a feeling they knew why.

Ending their communications with Fury, Natasha decided to check on the camera Clint set up in the barn. Changing over to that camera from the driveway camera, all she got was a black screen.

"What the?" Natasha's brow furrowed in confusion as to why the camera wasn't working, "Clint, you _did_ set the camera up properly right?"

Clint looked over to Natasha, taken aback by her question, "Of course I did."

"Well, it's not working," Natasha said, motioning to the blank screen with her hand.

Clint took a seat beside Natasha and looked at the blank monitor, his expression one of confusion as well.

"It _should_ be working," Clint said, "I know how to set one up."

With a sigh, Natasha went back to the recording log and pulled up the beginning of its recording, whatever it may have, and should have, picked up. Pulling up the video, it showed a view of the barn, Clint walking away from the camera and to the ladder. Steve walked over to watch as well, mostly curious to see what they looked so confused about. Just a minute after the two had left, the screen went to static before complete blackness. Clint and Natasha leaned back against the couch as they stared at the blank screen numbly.

"I think someone broke it," Clint said.

"But there wasn't anyone there…right?" Natasha asked.

Clint and Steve looked to each other. There was something mighty fishy going on here.

* * *

The moment Dianne got back from work, she first tossed her things into her room before taking off to the barn. Olyvia tried talking to her as she headed to the back door, but seeing her sister had something else on her mind, she didn't even bother trying to get her attention. For the past few days, Dianne and Loki had spent quite some time together, and Dianne was really starting to enjoy his company. When she reached the top of the loft though, she found Loki dressed in his old attire, and the bed of hay piled back into the original mound, blanket folded neatly beside it and the sleeping bag rumpled up next to it. Apparently he had gotten frustrated with trying to figure out how to put it back together. Dianne looked over to Loki, brow furrowed in worry.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing," Loki lied, he didn't want to tell Dianne the truth so she wouldn't worry, "It's just I believe I have overstayed my welcome and it's time for me to move on."

"Oh," Dianne said sadly, her head drooping.

Loki cocked his head to the side ever so slightly. He had never had this sort of reaction from anyone before when telling them he had to leave. Was she…actually disappointed to see him go?

"Do you not wish me to go?" Loki asked.

Dianne's cheeks flushed a light shade of pink, "I-I know you said you only wanted to stay just a few days…and you've stayed longer than that, but…I-I've gotten used to you being around."

There was no way she was going to say she enjoyed him being around for her to talk to, because that would insinuate that she liked him, which she did, and she didn't exactly want him to know that.

"It really would be best if I continued on my way," Loki said.

"I understand," Dianne said, "I guess…this is goodbye then."

Loki really hated seeing the forlorn look on her face, but he was also surprised by it. Had she really grown to enjoy his company that much? Did she consider him a friend already? Or…something more?

"I guess I could…stay a little longer," Loki said.

Dianne lifted her gaze, looking hopeful, "You…don't have to, if you'd rather go."

"Well I haven't quite figured out the little puzzle you've placed before me," Loki replied, "About you and your sisters."

Dianne shrugged, "No, but I doubt you'd be figuring that one out anytime soon."

"Then I guess I'll be working on that for a while."

Dianne then smiled, "Then I best put your bed back together. And maybe show you how to roll up a sleeping bag for future reference."

* * *

The days past, and before Loki knew it, he had stayed at the Harris's home for just over a week, much longer than he originally planned. The time he spent there though, he spent with Dianne, when she was home. She brought even more books for him to read, some of which he rather enjoyed, others he thought they were strange. Their conversations first started out with her asking his opinion on what book he had read that day, which eventually led to them just talking with each other about random things. They had grown quite close in that week. Olyvia was actually feeling a little jealous, having her sister being occupied with someone else during her free time. Her mother didn't notice her absence from the house at all since Dianne usually hid in her room anyway, but Rosemary noticed on occasion that Dianne had gone outside, and didn't come back until dark.

"What is she doing out there?" Rosemary asked Olyvia one day as they were playing Halo in Olyvia's bedroom, having challenged her sister to a duel, mainly for practice.

"Communing with nature," Olyvia replied. Though Olyvia may not have been pleased with Loki stealing her sister away, she wasn't going to rat him out to get her back. She was surprised he hadn't been spotted in the week he had been there, or that her mother hadn't become suspicious of the food level decreasing rapidly. Though that could have just been Olyvia. She tended to eat a lot, but hardly gained anything from it.

"One would think she communed enough with it already at work," Rosemary said, "Does she love it that much? AAAAH! Bullets! Bullets! Run!"

"You can't outrun the bullets, you've tried and failed at that before," Olyvia said, "Ha-ha! See, failed. Anyway, back to Dianne, I guess she does love nature that much."

"She doesn't spend time with me anymore," Rosemary pouted, waiting for her character to respawn.

"She hardly did anyway," Olyvia said, "She doesn't hang out with _me_ anymore. We hung out a lot, but now I'm stuck with you."

"Hey!" Rosemary said indignantly.

"Take your anger out on the Spartan, Rosemary," Olyvia said calmly.

Muttering under her breath, Rosemary glared at the screen, focusing on hunting down her sister and doing just that. Olyvia let out a squeak when she saw Rosemary's character climb into a tank.

"Ack! No fair!" Olyvia wailed, turning herself around and heading into a cave to hide.

"You said take my anger out on the Spartan, I'm doing that."

"I changed my mind, take your anger out on the warthog over there. It said very mean things about you."

Rosemary laughed, already feeling in a better mood. Once the match ended, Olyvia winning since she was the more experienced Halo player, they turned off the console, being finished for the day. Olyvia sprawled out across the floor to stretch out her back while Rosemary stayed sitting beside her.

"Do you think Dad will come home this weekend?" Rosemary asked out of the blue.

Olyvia shrugged, "I don't know. He's supposed to call and let Mom know, why don't you ask her?"

Rosemary decided to do that and left the room. Moving from the floor to the bed, Olyvia remained sprawled out, enjoying the stretching feeling in her limbs. She couldn't help but wonder though, that if her father had been home this whole week, whether he would have noticed Dianne's frequent trips to the barn, and whether he would have gone to check it out. Olyvia couldn't help but shudder at her next thought. If her dad found out they had a boy living in their barn, Loki would have to spend more than just a couple of days healing from all the bullet wounds he would sustain. As she thought more about their guest, and Dianne's frequent visits to him, Olyvia began to realize what was happening. Her sister was crushing on Loki, perhaps even falling for him.

* * *

Natasha, Clint and Steve were all starting to become frustrated. They hadn't gotten anywhere in the last week, only following the family around the town when they headed out, and not daring to try to go back in the yard, not after the run-in with the alien creature. They couldn't pick up any conversations at the house, no matter from what position around the house they were so they soon gave up on that. The family just went about their normal lives, which honestly, was quite boring. They hadn't seen anything to give them cause to approach the family. They only learned that they had two dogs, three cats, and a handful of chickens. Natasha seemed to be at the end of her rope, wanting to just knock on their front door and interrogate them. Fury of course, wanted them to be more subtle.

When following a family around, you typically learned a little about them, and for Steve, every little bit that he learned more about Olyvia in particular only made him more intrigued. She was a hard worker, which they saw when keeping tabs on her at work a few days, very musically talented, and she was quite the character, loving to laugh and make others laugh. It was kind of cute how she interacted with her younger sister, and more especially the dogs. She was a very playful person at home, but she was more quiet and reserved away from the comfort of familiar walls and people.

As futile as they believed this to be, they moved to a different location in attempt to retrieve more information, since they were closer to the house. It was better to move around than stay in one spot and risk being found. The weather was starting to cool as the sun started its decent, and the three were thinking on packing up soon when they saw Dianne run from the barn to the house, which certainly caught their attention.

"What do you think is going on?" Steve asked.

The other two merely shrugged. Perhaps if their little audio trinket actually worked they just might be able to find out. So all they could do was wait. A few minutes later, Olyvia ran outside, leaping over the three steps down to the ground, and then just stood there. Dianne followed outside not too far behind her, and stood a few paces away, just watching her sister. The three agents' brows furrowed as they watched, wondering what the heck was going on. Then suddenly Olyvia turned, looking straight at them, as if she knew they were there.

"I think we should go," Steve said, starting to get a bad feeling in his gut.

Olyvia lifted an arm and pointed over in their direction, and said one thing they did _not_ want to hear, "Oscar! Find them!"

The bear of a dog quickly got to its feet and took off at top speed in the direction its master told him to go. And there was no fence between them and the dog, since they were on the inside.

"I agree with Rogers," Natasha said, dropping to the ground and taking off at a run.

Once again, Steve and Clint found themselves being chased by the dog, dropping from their perches in the tree and following after Natasha. Luckily they weren't too far from the fence, and slid underneath the hole Natasha made by holding up the bottom they had dug up earlier. Once on the other side, Natasha dropped it and they quickly moved on, wanting to get out of sight before someone got too close and saw them. When they reached the truck, they just sat in it for a moment, catching their breath from their run. Looking at each other, they were all asking the same question that Natasha voiced.

"How the hell did she know we were there?"

* * *

Loki found he was really starting to enjoy Dianne's company. When he was first staying here, and she kept visiting him, he had to admit it irritated him a bit, but now he looked forward to those visits. Having someone to talk to ended up being rather nice, instead of keeping to himself. He felt like he could even be himself around her, that he didn't have to put up a front to be liked by her. It was refreshing, and he found himself opening up to her, far more than he would have expected. When he first landed in Midgard, he didn't expect to be telling anyone of his home, where he came from, where he grew up, or even the family issues that sprouted just recently. He felt he found a friend in this human girl, and Loki could…sort of understand his brother's appeal for the beings. Because of this though, Loki was starting to feel a little more guilty about not telling Dianne sooner about the three members of the Avengers he knew were snooping about. He knew very well they were the sort of people Dianne didn't want knowing about her or her sisters, and it seemed they were there for them, for the most part. Loki was pretty sure they were really there for him, but was hiding behind this family. He knew he had to tell her about them. He just hoped she wouldn't be too upset with him.

They had reached a slow point of conversation, nothing coming immediately to either of their minds, so Loki decided it was best to get it out and over with.

"Dianne…there is something I…should have told you earlier," Loki began.

Dianne cocked her head to the side, wondering what it could be, staying silent to let Loki continue. He took in a deep breath, thinking over how he was going to tell her this.

"You know how you were concerned about me telling someone about you and your sisters' abilities?" Loki asked.

Dianne nodded slowly, a look of worry on her face, wondering where he was going with this.

"I know I should have mentioned it before, but there have been…some people here who are looking for me," Loki replied, "I know it's me they're after because I've seen them before. Unfortunately though…they have been watching you and your family as well."

The blood drained from Dianne's face, becoming even paler as her eyes widened in horror. How long had they been watching? _What_ did they see? Did they see Rosemary being stupid and using her abilities basically in plain sight out in their backyard? If they did, Dianne was going to kill her.

"Just…who are these people exactly and…why are they after you?" Dianne asked.

That was a question Loki wasn't looking forward to answering, afraid of Dianne's reaction to it, "I…haven't exactly done good things lately Dianne. I made…a horrible mistake in my anger towards my brother, and I am facing the consequences of that mistake. Those people are part of those seeing to it that I face those consequences. Unfortunately…I am facing an even bigger problem now. I assume you figured out I am running from someone."

"Is it those people you were telling me about?" Dianne asked.

Loki shook his head, "No…someone far worse."

Well that was good to hear. Not. How upside down would life get due to Loki being here?

"I just wanted to warn you, since the agents I've seen are part of an association who go out in search for people with special abilities like you," Loki said.

"What do they do with those people though? Once they find them?" Dianne hesitated to ask.

"That I do not know."

Biting her lower lip in worry, Dianne wondered what to do. For one, use no powers unless absolutely necessary for survival, but even then, use as a last resort. She also needed to tell Olyvia, so she knew.

"I'll be right back," Dianne said, already being cautious and using the ladder to climb down.

"Dianne—," Loki began, but she was already halfway to the door, heading out at a run once she hit the ground.

Running across the yard, Dianne leapt over the steps to the deck and into the house, running up to her sister's room. Olyvia jumped with a start from where she was sitting on the bed as her sister burst into the room. The sketch book she had in her hand nearly flew across the room she jumped so badly, along with the pencil she was using.

"Geez Dia, a little warning would have been nice," Olyvia said, "Like a PA-KAW outside the door, or even a knock would have been better."

"I have bad news Livy," Dianne said, getting straight to the point.

Olyvia sat up straighter on the bed, giving her sister her undivided attention. Dianne then went on to explain to her sister what Loki had just told her. Olyvia went white as a sheet, and seemed to panic more than Dianne had.

"Are they here now? Watching us from somewhere?" Olyvia asked.

Dianne shrugged, "I don't know, I wouldn't be surprised."

Olyvia jumped off the bed to her feet, "Then let's find out."

"Wait what? Livy what are you going to do?"

Running back outside, Olyvia jumped off the porch in her haste, and then stopped. Closing her eyes, she took in deep breaths as she began to focus. Dianne, who was right behind her, stopped when she saw her sister concentrating, not wanting to disrupt her. After almost half a minute of her standing there, she suddenly whipped her head to the right, a murderous glare on her face. She hardly hesitated a second before ordering Oscar to "find them", whoever "them" was. With a menacing growl, Oscar took off in that direction and Olyvia went jogging after him. With a frustrated sigh, Dianne followed after the two. Oscar, going at his full speed was far ahead of them, and they only caught up to him when they reached the fence, where he was busy pawing at the pulled up section of the fence. Dianne and Olyvia shared a worried glance.

"Well, it certainly seems like someone has been here," Olyvia said.

"That it does."

* * *

Thanos was closing in on his prey, he could feel it. He knew it wouldn't take long for him to track down where Loki had run off to. No matter how fast or how far the God of Mischief went, the Mad Titan would find him, and show him what happened when someone defied him.

A Skrull approached him from where he stood, staring into the black abyss around him, millions of stars blinking through the darkness. Kneeling down in front of the Titan, the Skrull waited for its presence to be known before he spoke.

"We've found the Trickster. He is on Midgard."

Thanos smiled, "Good."

It was time to go to Midgard.


	5. Chapter 5

**Another Chapter. Enjoy peoples.**

**RipplesOfAqua: Stark is a perv, but at least he knows better than to pursue such interests now that he's with Pepper. And I couldn't help but have Clint and Steve be chased by the dog. Natasha was, so it was their turn now.**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Monday was turning out to be a good day for Dianne, having spent nearly all day with Loki. It wasn't until that night though that things went crashing down. It was starting to get late, and they hadn't received a phone call from their father yet that day with an update, so Brenda decided to call him. Since she had gone in another room, none of the girls knew what was going on, on the other end of the phone call until she came back, looking somber.

"Girls…I need to talk to you," she began, and all three turned to give her their undivided attention, "As you know…your grandpa has been at the hospital the last couple of days. When I called your dad…your grandpa had stopped breathing."

Rosemary sobbed loudly as she slapped a hand over her mouth while the two older girls could only stare, numb from the shock of it.

"The doctors are trying to resuscitate him though," Brenda went on, "Your dad will call later tonight to let us know what is going on."

Dianne and Olyvia just nodded numbly while Rosemary got up and ran to her room. Though it was their grandpa, who was ninety-five years old, they certainly didn't expect him to go first. Their grandma had been ill for far longer than he had, they honestly expected that she would be the first one out of the two to leave this life.

Brenda was going to stay up and wait for the next phone call so Dianne and Olyvia decided to as well. They knew they wouldn't be able to fall asleep as stressed and anxious as they were for an update. Time seemed to tick by so slowly as the minutes passed, before the phone rang again. Brenda answered, and the girls watched her expression to give some sort of sign of what happened, but her face remained blank. After hanging up, she turned to the girls, her eyes becoming sad.

"He didn't make it," she said simply.

Unable to help themselves, the two girls burst into tears. They had been so close to their grandpa and losing him so suddenly like this…they didn't even have the chance to say goodbye. Olyvia headed straight to her room to cry herself to sleep while Dianne stayed up a little longer with her mom to speak with her before going to her room as well. Spending the next hour sobbing into her pillow, she exhausted herself to where she was starting to fall into unconsciousness. It was as she was just on the verge of falling asleep that she heard something moving around in her room, and it wasn't one of the cats they had. No, it was much bigger. Reaching out blindly, she grabbed the first thing her hands landed on, which was a book, and sitting up, threw it at the large dark silhouette in her room. She heard it hit with a thunk, followed by a tiny grunt of pain.

"Well I wasn't expecting that," a familiar voice said.

Dianne blinked wildly a few moments before her mind began functioning again and clicking things together, "Loki? What are you doing in my bedroom? How could you not expect me to throw something at you? You're lucky my swords aren't in reach!"

"I didn't think you'd throw a book of all things," Loki replied, moving closer to where she could see him better in the moonlight, "Not much damage to be caused by them, but I guess I should be glad you didn't choose anything…heavier. And I'm sorry for intruding, it's just…"

"Just what?" Dianne asked.

"It sounded like something was wrong," Loki said, trying to choose his words carefully.

Dianne's countenance became solemn once more, "Oh…well…i-it is."

The tears were welling up again, despite having run herself dry. If she cried any more, she was sure she would start to shrivel up like a dry husk. As she choked back a sob, Loki moved to sit down on the edge of the bed next to her, and placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. Unable to help herself, she moved to where she could place her head on his shoulder, grabbed onto his shoulders with her hands, and began to cry all over again. Her tears stopped sooner this time though, but Dianne wasn't sure if it was because she was out of them already or because of the arms that wrapped around her consolingly, one hand tenderly smoothing down her hair. Being right where she was…made her feel so much better.

After sniffling for a few minutes, she pulled away, Loki dropping his arms to allow her to do so.

"Thank you…," Dianne said quietly, her voice sore and unable to speak louder than a whisper.

Loki just nodded, and then gently wiped away the tears on her face with his hand. Dianne tried her best to repress the shudder that shot down her spine from the electric current from Loki's touch.

"I should probably be going now," Loki said, "I just wanted to see how you were doing."

Dianne nodded, and Loki stood, disappearing seconds later. Dianne laid back down, and waited for sleep to come to her again. It was after a few minutes of letting her mind wander that her eyes shot open when she realized something. If Loki could just magically teleport himself to different places, and inside her house, in her _room_, had he done it before or was this the first time? The thought of him being in her room before, watching her or whatever, was a little disturbing.

* * *

Steve, Clint and Natasha were ready to tail Dianne to work the next morning, but when she got there, she was only there for a few minutes, and then passed them on her way back home. So they drove back to the house, confused as to what was going on. They made a few guesses as to what the reason for her returning home could be, the popular one being she was sick and sent home since she was not fit for work. So sitting outside the driveway again, they waited for nine o'clock to roll around, when Olyvia and her mother usually left for work. Only today it was just Olyvia. Again, they encountered the same problem with Olyvia. She was at work for maybe fifteen minutes when they saw her heading back to her vehicle, purse slung over a shoulder.

"Okay, what is going on here people?" Natasha asked no one in particular.

Clint raised his binoculars so he could get a better look at Olyvia. Her head was hung low, but he could see her face just enough to tell that her eyes were red and puffy, as if she had been crying. When she lifted her head as she climbed into the vehicle, his suspicions were confirmed, not to mention she burst into tears again once she was in the driver's seat, dropping her head against the steering wheel. Clint informed the other two that she was crying and Steve grabbed the binoculars from Clint to see for himself.

"What do you think happened?" Steve asked, feeling a little sad himself seeing her grieving.

"My guess, a death in the family," Clint replied.

Natasha nodded in agreement. It seemed like the only logical reason.

"So the family will most likely be staying home today," Clint continued, "Should we go back home or continue to stake out the house?"

"Let's just go back home," Natasha said, "We'll be able to see with the video feed if anyone leaves the house."

"Via the driveway," Clint pointed out.

"Still, I'm not too worried at this point," Natasha said.

So it was back to their place. The three of them took turns hanging out in front of the laptop, keeping an eye on the video feed and to be nearby in case S.H.I.E.L.D tried to get a hold of them. Nothing happened during Clint's or Natasha's turn, except Natasha realized that Rosemary wasn't picked up from school that day so they really had no idea where she was. It was getting close to the time the sun would set, halfway through Steve's turn keeping an eye on the laptop, when they received a call from S.H.I.E.L.D, Steve having to take a few seconds to find the proper key on the laptop again to allow the visual to come through.

"Where is Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff?" were the first words out of Fury's mouth.

"Nice to see you too Sir," Steve said.

"There is no time for pleasantries," Fury rebutted, "I need to speak with the three of you immediately."

Steve knew there was something serious going on, so he got up from his seat on the couch and quickly found Clint and Natasha. They wasted no time in returning to the main room to hear what Fury had to tell them. Another disturbance was caught on their radar in their vicinity, and it remained far longer than usual where only one person had caused the disturbance. Fury had a feeling a large group had arrived, and giving them the coordinates, told them to suit up and get out there to find out what had caused this disturbance.

Clint and Natasha changed into their S.H.I.E.L.D uniforms while Steve put on his Captain America uniform, keeping his cowl off for the time being. Getting into the truck, Clint got the back seat this time, Natasha driving again, and Steve getting the passenger seat. As crammed as he was in the back, Clint also had the laptop out so they knew when they reached the specified coordinates, giving directions to Natasha as where to go. Once they were close to the location, they pulled off to a secluded area and climbed out, Steve pulling his cowl over his head.

"We need to head northwest of here to reach our location," Steve instructed to the others, who nodded in response.

Heading northwest through the trees, it really didn't take them long to run into the source of the problem, since they had quite some time to move. As they crested a hill, they found dozens of those alien creatures Clint and Steve had run into days before, making their way through the woods. The creatures noticed the three right away, and attacked.

"More of these?" Clint asked as he released an arrow, "What do you think they're here for?"

"Maybe you could try asking them," Natasha suggested, pulling out her pistols and firing on the intruders.

Steve ran down to meet the aliens, using his shield to bash into their heads and knock away their weapons in their hands. As some began to run deeper into the woods, Steve broke away from the ones he was fighting to follow. He didn't want them to get away, since they had no idea why they were here. Since he moved so fast, he easily caught up to the dozen that had split off, when they suddenly stopped and morphed into something else, each one something different, but most choosing some sort of four legged creature, all of which had a reptilian look to them. Even with being outnumbered, Steve was able to take them on, knocking each one aside and finishing them off with a powerful blow to the head with the rim of his shield. When he was down to the last three, they took off again. With a frustrated sigh Steve ran after them. He had reached one when he realized how close they were to the main highway, and the other two were heading right toward it, no intention of stopping. Steve panicked when he saw a car coming up the road, one he recognized. It was one of the Harris's vehicles.

* * *

It was getting late in the day and it was time to fetch Rosemary from Juan's house. He lived a town away, just a half hour out from the main town so both families switched off on who drove her to or from home, and since she rode the bus to his place, it was the Harris's turn to pick her up and bring her home. Olyvia volunteered to get her, wanting to just get out of the house for a while. It would help keep her mind occupied on something else while she concentrated on driving, instead of mulling over the news of her grandfather's death.

Fifteen minutes out of town, she was starting to climb up into the mountains, when everything went to hell, happening so fast, but everything was so clear to her. Two, large…_things_, she didn't even know what they were, rammed into the side of the Trooper, causing it to spin sharply, and then tip over. Olyvia screamed, instinctively gripping tightly onto the steering wheel as the vehicle began to roll. Once, twice, then two more times down the hill, glass shattering and metal screeching, before it landed on its left side. Shaky breaths sounded from Olyvia's throat as she stared out the windshield, her wide eyes focusing on the cracks in the glass.

"Oh my God," she breathed shrilly, "Oh my God. What just happened?"

Focusing on her breathing, Olyvia first tried to calm herself down, so she wouldn't go into hysterics, though she was coming close, tears starting to stream down her face. The car was still running, surprisingly, so she pried her right hand loose and turned off the ignition, pulling the key out and shoving it into her pocket before grabbing the steering wheel once more. Spitting out a few pieces of glass from her mouth, she heard noises, odd noises, coming from outside. Her heart began to pound wildly, wondering if it were those things that had run into the Trooper. They didn't look nice so she had no desire whatsoever to encounter them. But she had no such luck, when a giant head shoved its way through the broken passenger window, screeching loudly and showering Olyvia with more glass. Letting go of the steering wheel, Olyvia raised her arms over her face to protect her from the glass as she screamed again. Whatever it was, it was intent on getting to her. Squirming further into the vehicle, its face was just a foot away from her, snapping wildly, when Olyvia swung out with a fist, hitting the reptilian creature in its bricklike jaw. It paused for a moment, making a sound of surprise before it screamed in terror as it was suddenly ripped out from the window. Ungodly shrieking filled the air for a few seconds before all went silent. Olyvia jumped slightly when someone else appeared at the window, before she stared with wide eyes up at them, since she recognized the ensemble. Captain America. Why was Captain America _here_? In Northern California? Maybe those weird creatures had something to do with it.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Olyvia nodded numbly, struck dumb from the icon's sudden appearance, and slightly taken by his soothing voice, and those blue, blue eyes. She was willing to bet he was rather attractive, under that mask.

"Do you think you're able to get out?" the Captain asked.

"I-I don't know," Olyvia replied, moving her hand to the seatbelt latch and tried to push down on the button to release the belt. It wouldn't budge though. She knew she could easily break the buckle, but she didn't want it to be too noticeable to the Captain. Making sure her hand covered it, she pulled, breaking it, and then let the belt fall to the side. Grabbing her purse, she slung it over her right shoulder before shakily getting to her feet. Captain America grabbed onto the crumpled door, and then ripped it off so she could more easily climb out, and wrapped his arms under hers to help hoist her out.

Steve carefully set her down on her feet, making sure she was stable. She was able to keep her balance, but she did have a cut on her head, and her hands were bleeding a little, but other than that she was unharmed. He was so relieved to see that she was fine, at least externally.

"And you're sure you're alright?" Steve double checked.

Olyvia nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. Shaken, but fine."

"Alright," Steve said, "Just um…stay here."

He had to return to Clint and Natasha and make sure they were holding up alright, as well as make a call to the authorities to get an emergency crew out here. He didn't want to leave Olyvia stranded out here longer than necessary, and she needed immediate medical attention to be sure that she was indeed alright. Without another word, he headed back up the hill, across the road, and up the next hill on his way back to his comrades.

Olyvia just stood there, still in a daze over what happened. Not only did she wreck her sister's car, she was also pulled out of it by none other than Captain America himself. And when he told her to stay there, she couldn't help but think, _where else can I go?_ Turning around to look at the damage done to the car, the pit in her stomach grew heavy.

"Oh Dianne is going to kill me."

* * *

Upon reaching Clint and Natasha, Steve found they had an alien in their custody, having had been pinned to a tree by Clint while the two agents finished off the others. Since they had no more enemies to deal with, Steve informed the two about what happened with Olyvia, and that they needed to call 911. Both Clint and Natasha thought it was quite a coincidence that one of the family members they were tailing were involved in this incident. Once they made the phone call, they stayed and watched from a distance to make sure Olyvia was found and taken to a hospital. After a little over five minutes the fire rescue team arrived, but since Olyvia was already out of the vehicle, they didn't need to worry about doing that. Once the ambulance arrived, they went to put her on a stretcher to then put her in the ambulance. Olyvia argued that she didn't need it, that she was standing just fine on her own, but the EMT's won in the end, Olyvia finally getting onto a stretcher, a neck brace put on her neck, and then loaded into the ambulance.

"Alright, time for us to go," Natasha said.

"Where are we going to put this guy?" Clint asked, giving the alien a good shake.

Natasha pursed her lips in thought before replying, "We have a tarp in the back, put him under that. Make sure he's bound up tight though."

With a nod, Clint began making his way back toward the truck, dragging the alien along with him. Following behind, Steve and Natasha made sure the captive didn't slip away. They had plans to interrogate the strange being and get some answers.

Reaching their place, Clint tied the alien creature to a chair in the kitchen, since the tile would be easier to clean any blood off the tiles rather than the carpet in the living room. S.H.I.E.L.D interrogations could, and usually did, get rather messy. When they began questioning the alien, it didn't seem to take any coercing to talk, in fact it almost seemed willing, and proud, of the answers it gave.

"First of all, what are you?" Clint asked.

"We are called the Skrull," it replied, "You weak mortal."

Clint and Natasha shared a glance before resuming the interrogation.

"Why are you here?" Natasha asked this time.

"We came to Midgard as an order from our new master," the Skrull replied, "You mortals are no match against the might of our army."

"You were just defeated by three 'mortals'," Natasha pointed out, "Do you really think you're all that mighty anymore?"

The Skrull laughed, "Just wait until our master endows us with limitless power. You will all be trembling beneath us. And if you think yourself mighty, you are nothing compared to the might of our master, Thanos."

The three agents all shared a worried glance. They heard that name before, and from what they heard from Thor, had nearly annihilated Asgard. Also, they knew Thanos was after Loki, so therefore, Loki must be nearby.

"So why were you brought here, specifically?" Natasha asked.

The Skrull grinned, "For the Trickster. He is here. We were just leading our master to him. It won't be too much longer before he will arrive. You have no chance against him mortals. He is far too powerful."

That certainly wasn't good news. Now that they had their questions answered, they had no more use for the Skrull, and Clint took him out back to deal with him. Natasha went over to the laptop and went to get in touch with S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury would want to know about his as soon as possible. Once she got a hold of the Director, Natasha relayed to him all that they had learned. He was greatly disturbed at the news.

"The rest of the team will arrive tomorrow," Fury told Natasha, "I want you to find Loki, and bring him back to headquarters."

"Is that really a good idea?" Steve asked, "Considering what he did last time?"

"It is a chance we will have to take Rogers," Fury replied, before ending the conversation, the screen going black.

"We don't even know where Loki is though," Steve said.

"I'm willing to bet we do," Natasha said.

Natasha didn't need to say it out loud for Steve to know what she was thinking. The Harris's property. He had to be there.

* * *

Life just sucked for Olyvia at the moment. In the last week and a half, she had shot someone, her grandfather had died, and then she had rolled her sister's car. Not her car, but her sister's. Dianne loved that Trooper, and she had rolled it. Well…technically a monster rammed into it and caused it to roll, so it wasn't entirely Olyvia's fault, but try explaining that to the sheriff officers who asked her about the accident. Not wanting to sound crazy, she just told them it felt like something had hit the car and it suddenly went out of control. She was still at the hospital, waiting for her mom to arrive and pick her up. Olyvia went ahead and told her mom to go ahead and pick up Rosemary first before getting her so it was dark by the time her mother finally showed up, pale and frantic, Rosemary behind her in tears.

"Livy! Oh my gosh are you alright?" Rosemary wailed as she rushed over to the bed Olyvia was sitting in.

"I'm just fine, but the nurses here don't believe me," Olyvia said, "I just got a few scrapes and cuts, and a bit of a bump on my head, but nothing major. I am so ready to go home. Please tell me I can go home."

"Once the doctor checks on you and determines on whether to discharge you or not," her mother replied.

Olyvia sighed heavily. She just wanted out of there. But that would mean she would have to go home to her sister. Did she know yet?

"Mom…did you tell Dianne what happened?" Olyvia asked.

Brenda nodded, "Took me a few minutes to find her, but yes I did."

Olyvia grimaced, "Is she…mad?"

"Mad? Why would she be mad?"

"Um, I just rolled her beloved car Mom, why wouldn't she be?"

"She was far more concerned about you," Brenda replied, "I'm sure she's worrying herself sick now, since we've taken so long to get you."

Sighing in relief, Olyvia sunk down slightly in the bed. At least her sister wouldn't kill her immediately when she got home. Olyvia still felt terrible for wrecking the vehicle, but the car wasn't the important thing here. The fact that she survived was. She was honestly surprised she didn't have more injuries than she sustained.

After five minutes of waiting, a doctor finally came and had her walk from the bed to the door a few times to make sure she was stable, before discharging her. Reaching the house, she hadn't taken two steps from the vehicle before she found herself being tackled by Dianne, who was almost in tears. Olyvia was surprised by her reaction. Her sister hated hugs, yet here she was, nearly taking her to the ground with one.

"Don't ever scare me like that again!" she nearly sobbed.

"How do you think _I_ feel?" Olyvia asked, "I was in the car when it rolled."

"You're alright though…right?" Dianne asked, taking a step back to take a look at her sister, "Did you hit your head or something?"

Olyvia lifted her hand to the side of her face where the gauze was still covering up the cut she had sustained, "Oh, it's just a cut. Nothing major. I'm fine. Really. All I want to do is go to bed now."

Dianne nodded, and walked beside her sister as she made her way into the house, Rosemary following on the other side. Olyvia glanced to both of her sisters, seeing they were both watching her in some concern. Olyvia couldn't help but smile a little. She and her sisters shared a bond like none other, it was something that couldn't be broken.

* * *

Steve waited for the Harris' to arrive back home from the hospital, just so he knew that Olyvia had made it home safely. He felt partially responsible for the accident, unable to stop those two Skrulls before they rammed into her car, so he wanted to be sure she was alright. Seeing the mother arrive back home, Olyvia in the passenger seat, Steve could rest easy knowing she was fine. If she wasn't they wouldn't have let her leave the hospital. So walking down the road, Steve made his way back to the house. He knew Clint and Natasha weren't too pleased with him making this trip, but it was just so Steve could put his mind to rest, so he wouldn't be distracted by his worry on the morrow, because he knew it would be a busy, stressful day. Little did he know how eventful the day would turn out to be.

* * *

Steve was rudely awakened the next morning by Stark bursting into his room. It took Steve a few seconds to realize why Stark was there, and that he really was there and not some nightmare he was having.

"Come on sunshine, up and at 'em," Stark said as he began opening all the blinds to allow the sunlight in, "We have work to do so get up. We're all meeting in the kitchen."

"Get out first," Steve ordered.

"What, is someone embarrassed to be seen in his pajamas?" Stark asked, "You do wear pajamas…right?"

Steve sighed in frustration. He certainly had not missed Stark in the last twelve days.

"Go. Away."

Stark finally strolled out of the room, leaving Steve alone to get ready for the day. After pulling on some day clothes and running a comb through his hair, he headed into the kitchen to get himself some breakfast, where the others were eating, Thor making his way through, apparently, a second box of Poptarts, the first box sitting empty beside the second.

"What's the plan?" Steve asked, pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

"We're going to take the quinjet the others arrived on and…drop in on the Harris's property," Clint answered, "We'll make quite a scene, I'm sure, but we'll hopefully have enough surprise on our side to snatch Loki before he can run again."

"What about the family?" Steve asked, "Are we going to be doing anything with them?"

"Fury wants to talk to the three girls," Stark replied, "Wouldn't say why so don't ask. The guy is always so very vague when he wants us to do something."

Steve's brow furrowed in confusion. What would Fury want with the girls? Well…maybe if they did have some sort of special ability as they so believed, then perhaps that was why.

Once everyone finished eating, Thor being the last, they suited up, got themselves all prepared for a fight, in case one occurred, and headed to the quinjet, which had been landed in the backyard of the home, which Stark was apparently the one who had done it. It was getting close to noon by the time they were ready and up in the air. Natasha and Clint were flying the quinjet, and cloaked it so they wouldn't be noticed as they made their way to their targeted location. Steve, again, didn't put his cowl on yet, deciding to wait until they got closer before putting it on.

"Do we really believe what these Skrull things told us?" Stark asked, "That Loki actually still is here? If I were the guy, I would have left town first day. Why stay in one spot and increase the chances of being caught?"

"Maybe you can ask him that when we get him," Banner said.

"Maybe I will."

They were starting to get close to their destination when the quinjet was suddenly jostled about, as if something big and heavy had hit it, or a wing had clipped something.

"What was that?" Steve asked, looking over to Clint and Natasha in the cockpit.

"Don't look at us, we don't know," Natasha replied.

The quinjet was jostled again, only a five foot section of the ceiling dented in right above Stark's head.

"Okay, something is going on here," Stark said, flipping his helmet down over his face so that he was fully protected.

Steve was about to pull his cowl over his head when the back of the quinjet was suddenly ripped away, the occupants inside having to quickly find something to grab onto to avoid being sucked out of the jet. Then landing with a heavy _thump_ at the back of the quinjet, was a tall, monster of a man, a sneer on his face.

"Whoa ugly!" Stark exclaimed, taking a step back since he was the closest.

"It's Thanos!" Thor informed the others.

"So you do remember me," Thanos chuckled, "Not that it will do you any good for the future, because it ends for you now."

Stark raised a hand and was about to blast Thanos in the face, when he grabbed onto Stark's arm and then flung him out the back. Bruce then transformed into the Hulk, and lunged at Thanos, but he disappeared and Bruce went hurtling out as well. Thanos reappeared not far from Steve, and he swung at him with his shield. Catching it, Thanos pushed the super soldier away, and Steve quickly had to grab onto something else to keep himself from going flying out of the quinjet as well. Clint and Natasha were having a hell of a time piloting with the back gaping open, and were trying to find any decent area to crash land. Then Thanos started just ripping the quinjet apart, ignoring the attacks from Thor. As Steve went to aid Thor, Thanos disappeared again, and then the quinjet just fell apart into hundreds of pieces. Thor at least could fly, given that he had his hammer still in his hand, while Steve, Clint and Natasha were left to fall straight to the ground. Though their altitude had dropped severely, they were still far too high to really survive the fall. Steve tried to brace himself as the trees grew closer. This was going to hurt.

* * *

Olyvia's whole body just ached. Just laying down was rather painful. She had been told that the day after her accident she would be feeling sore, so she was missing yet another day of work. Not like she would have been very useful there. There was no way she could do all the housekeeping work at the hotel in the pain she was in, or how sluggish she was moving. Though laying around the house sounded splendid, Olyvia figured moving around would possibly help. With Dianne and her mom at work and Rosemary at school, she was all alone so it wasn't like she could ask someone to go with her on a short walk. Wanting to at least try to stretch her legs, she walked out into the backyard, and into the trees, finding the gate and heading even further off the property. She wouldn't go far, she almost couldn't due to how her muscles were protesting. After ten minutes, she was just barely out of sight of the house that was how slow she was moving. She was aching even more now, so perhaps she would sit down in the sunshine and just soak it up for a while. It being October now, it wouldn't be too much longer before the weather really started cooling down.

As she was sitting there, she thought she heard a whirring noise far above her, but she ignored it, until she heard what sounded like metal scraping together. It was still coming from somewhere above so she turned her head to look up. She didn't see anything for a few moments, when suddenly a huge piece of metal was coming down straight at her. With a shriek, she jumped out of the way, the chunk of metal landing where she had been just seconds before, digging into the ground at least six inches. That could have been her legs. Scrambling to her feet, she whipped her head around, looking for anything else that may be falling out of the sky for her to dodge. There was actually a lot of metal scraps falling down now, looking like debris from a wreck. Could someone have…crashed nearby? No, she would have heard a crashing sound, and the metal wouldn't be falling from the sky. Then suddenly she heard the cracking of trees above her, another large sheet of metal coming down at her. Being too close for her to dodge it, she raised her hands and caught it, crying out in pain as the serrated edge of the metal cut into her hands.

"Monkey feathers!" Olyvia shouted through clenched teeth, throwing the sheet of metal down, "Son of a—oh god it hurts! What were you thinking Livy? You should have just let it decapitate you."

Looking down at her hands, a deep, wide gash went across her palms, and was bleeding profusely. Not to mention the burning, searing pain that shot all the way up her arms into her shoulders. Hearing branches cracking again, Olyvia jumped, not wanting to get hit, or try catching the falling debris again, but this time it wasn't debris. Instead, she saw a person falling through the trees, landing just thirty yards or so away from her. Olyvia's eyes grew wide as she looked up, and then back down to where the person had landed, then up again. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go over and find a splattered body on the ground. Although…they seemed to be falling rather slowly from branch to branch. Perhaps, that had helped slow their fall. So running over, she went to investigate, still keeping a sharp eye out for more debris. It seemed one had landed on the person, either not long after they had landed or it came down with them. Moving around the debris to get a look at them Olyvia's jaw dropped. Not only was the red, white and blue ensemble familiar to her, she would never have forgotten that face.

"Y-y-you!" Olyvia exclaimed, "H-h-how…?"

Steve squeezed his eyes shut, hoping the world would stop spinning soon, before opening them again to look up at Olyvia. Seeing the expression on her face, and hearing what she said, made him realize he hadn't managed to get his cowl on. Then he began to wonder how she recognized him because nothing was really coming to him as to why.

"You're Captain America?" she asked shrilly.

"Um…," was all Steve muttered in reply.

Well that was just great. Dianne was crushing on a Norse God while Olyvia was crushing on an American Hero. What were the odds of that?

Steve began pushing the heavy sheet of metal off of him, which Olyvia noticed, and she quickly moved closer and grabbed it herself, hefting it off of him and tossing it aside as if it were a sheet of poster board.

"Oh my arms," Olyvia groaned. They were absolutely killing her now.

Steve got to his feet, stared over at the scrap metal Olyvia had tossed off of him for a few seconds, before looking back to her, "How?"

"Don't ask," Olyvia replied, then noticed a large blot of red on the Captain's uniform that was steadily growing larger, "That doesn't look too good."

Steve brushed his fingers over the wound, cringing slightly. It was a pretty bad one, "No I guess it doesn't."

"My house is just this way, we can find something there to patch you up," Olyvia said, turning to start heading back to the house.

"But my comrades," Steve began.

"I'm sure they would understand you seeking some medical attention so you wouldn't pass out from blood loss trying to search for them," Olyvia said, already walking in the direction of the house, "but it's your choice. You can follow or you can go. I for one am heading home. I am sick and tired of… stuff happening."

She would have chosen a much more colorful word, but decided against it. She didn't like cursing anyway, but sometimes it just came out when the situation seemed appropriate, such as now. She was just freaking out a lot over everything that was going on. When would it stop?

Olyvia wasn't really expecting the Captain to follow her, but a few seconds later he was walking next to her. Well, more like limping.

"How are your hands?" he asked.

Olyvia looked back to her hands. They looked really bad, but didn't hurt nearly as much anymore. The blood was dripping all the way down to her elbows though, since she was holding her hands up above her heart so the gravity would be working against the flow of blood.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Olyvia said, "I've had worse."

She couldn't really think of any at the moment, because it did look pretty gnarly. Despite how much her muscles were protesting, Olyvia walked as fast as she could back to the house, doing her best to open and shut the fence gate without leaving too much blood on it. The real problem would be getting through the house to the nearest sink without dripping too much blood on the floor. As they got closer to the house, Oscar ran over, whimpering as he smelled the blood trail, and then growled once he saw Steve, who took a few steps away from the dog.

"It's okay Oscar," Olyvia said, "He's friendly."

Oscar stopped growling, and followed Olyvia right at her heels all the way to the door. Using the very tips of her fingers which were mostly clear of blood, she opened the door, let Steve inside, and entered the house herself. Heading straight for the kitchen, she hit the faucet up and toward the warm water before sticking her hands under the stream. She hissed as it hit her open wounds, and then clenched her jaw as she did her best not to scream or shout in pain. Or swear. Swearing sounded really fun at the moment. And as painful as washing her hands with soap sounded, she wanted to be as thorough with the cleaning as she could. It becoming infected was the last thing she wanted. After a flurry of mumbled curses, and five paper towels later, Olyvia had finished and motioned Steve to follow as she took off for the nearest bathroom, where their medical supplies were kept.

"Sorry for dealing with my hands first, but I kind of need them to help you," Olyvia said as she wrapped a bandage around her left hand after smearing more disinfectant on it and then a pad of gauze.

"That's fine," Steve assured her. He would rather she take care of her injury first anyway.

Taking just a little longer to bandage her right hand, since she wasn't as adept in using her left hand, she turned to Steve. He was starting to look really pale, and the blood had blossomed out to over the size of a serving platter on his torso, the blood dripping down his right leg.

"So…here is everything you need," Olyvia said, pushing the first aid kit towards him on the counter, "I'll just…go and give you some privacy."

He nodded, and Olyvia slipped out of the bathroom, her cheeks flushing red upon recalling the last time she saw him shirtless. Yeah, she didn't want to turn into a drooling fool right in front of him. Looking down at herself, she found her clothes were a complete mess as well. With a sigh, she headed upstairs to her bedroom to change. As she was sifting through her dresser, she lifted her head to look out the window it was set in front of, which gave her a view of the backyard. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she thought over the most recent events. Why would Captain America be here, and apparently with his team? She remembered them being shown on television, and that they were called the Avengers. So what in the world would bring a group of superheroes to her backyard? She paled as she looked over to the barn. Loki. That's why they were here. And then another issue was brought to the forefront of her mind. They had been watching her and her family for the last week or so. It was starting to make sense now. Question was…what were they going to do with her and her sisters now?


	6. Chapter 6

**Just want to shout out a thank you to all who have followed, faved, and/or reviewed this story. I'm glad to see people are enjoying the fruits of my imagination. I have too much in my head, I need to write it down to get it out. And it makes me smile and smiling is good. XD**

**Elizabeth14: I'm pretty sure you're going to be nervous at the end of this chapter too.**

**Harrylee94: Hi and welcome to the review party! You're the first to comment about the OC's, and I'm happy to hear you like them. I was hoping they would be likeable.**

**CHAPTER SIX**

Once Olyvia had left to give Steve his privacy, he pulled off the shirt of his uniform so he could more easily access his injury. It was a deep cut, and was bleeding heavily, he wasn't sure if bandaging it alone would cut it, not even with how fast he could heal. At any rate, it needed to be cleaned out first so after washing it, he sterilized the wound with the alcohol, which burned like hell but needed to be done. After cleaning it, the bleeding hadn't slowed a bit, and Steve was starting to feel dizzy. It needed to be stopped, and soon, and there was only one person around for him to ask for help. Grabbing a dark blue hand towel so he wouldn't end up staining anything too terribly, he held it over the wound, putting pressure on it to stem the bleeding as he stepped out of the bathroom in search for Olyvia. She wasn't far, using a damp paper towel to clean up the blood droplets on the hardwood floor. Noticing him, she jumped to her feet, a crimson blush staining her face.

"I-i-is everything alright?" she stammered.

"You don't happen to know how to stitch someone up do you?" Steve asked.

Olyvia's face darkened a few more shades, "S-s-stitch? Is it really that deep?"

Steve nodded, and Olyvia pursed her lips, "Well…I can sew, but I'm no doctor or nurse, or anyone who has that sort of training. I'd rather not…even try."

Steve leaned heavily against the wall, starting to become even dizzier. Something had to be done, and Olyvia wracked her brain to come up with something. She snapped her fingers when an idea struck her.

"Super glue!" she said, "That will work. I've heard doctors use it sometimes instead of stitches. Now… question is, where is the super glue?"

Turning around she hurried as fast as she was capable down the hall and back into the kitchen. Sometimes her mom would put the super glue in the fridge because apparently it would keep better in there. Olyvia didn't really think that glue had an expiration date. After rifling through the fridge door, and not finding it, she pulled over a chair and looked on top of the refrigerator, and then in the cabinet above. Still nothing. She knew they had some, she had just used it a few weeks ago to repair one of Rosemary's collectible porcelain dolls, whose shoe had been falling apart. Maybe it was still upstairs then.

Rushing back down the hallway, she passed Steve, who had started making his way towards the kitchen but then turned around to follow again. It took him some time to follow her up the stairs, but she was still searching through a room filled with fabric and crafting items by the time he got up there.

"Where in the world is it?" Olyvia was asking herself as she was nearly cramming herself into the large cubby holes above the craft table, "It should be here!"

After a few more minutes of searching, she crawled out from a cubby and off the table with a frustrated sigh, leaving the room and heading into another room right beside it. Steve scooted over to the doorway to find it was a bedroom, and he was guessing it was Olyvia's. She nearly attacked the desk inside as she dug through piles of paper, pens, colored pencils, and books on top of it. She hadn't even been searching for a minute though before she found what she was looking for.

"Ah-ha!" she exclaimed, holding up a small tube in her hand, "I am victorious!"

Heading to the door, she told Steve to follow her to the upstairs bathroom, since it would offer better light. Steve leaned against the counter as Olyvia flipped on all the lights, and then hurried back downstairs as fast as her aching body would allow, since it was hurting a lot more now due to her rushing and climbing about earlier, before returning back upstairs, weary and somewhat out of breath.

"Okay, let's see if I can do this," Olyvia said.

"And if not?" Steve asked worriedly.

"Then I'll most likely end up gluing my hand to your torso," Olyvia replied, "I will try not to go overboard with the glue. I don't want to have to wait forever for it to dry before putting the gauze on because we don't want that super glued to your skin either. Now…deep breath, okay, I can do this."

She was mainly telling herself she could do this because she was worried she would be too distracted by being so close to a very, very attractive guy. Heck, she hardly had been so close to any guy. She was a little shy when it came to guys, she hadn't even had a boyfriend her whole life. Or even a friend who was a guy.

Moving the hand towel, Olyvia got to work, concentrating on the wound so her mind wouldn't wander, or her eyes, because she knew they easily would if she didn't, and she would end up super gluing herself to the guy. Which…wouldn't be so bad of a thing, since he was so good looking, but it would be super embarrassing. Once she believed she was done, all she had to do was wait to see if it would all hold together, once the glue dried. She was attempting to fan air at it with her hand when she froze hearing something, her blood running cold. Standing back up straight, raised her left arm to look at her watch.

"Oh sh—monkey feathers!" Olyvia exclaimed, "You have to hide!"

"Hide?" Steve asked.

"Yes hide," Olyvia replied, pushing Steve out of the bathroom, "My mom is home for lunch, and if she sees you in the house, we'll both be dead. Believe me, she won't care that you're Captain America, she will _kill_ you! Quick, hide in here."

She had pushed him into her bedroom, before running back to the bathroom to grab the first aid kit, tossing that into the bedroom as well.

"Now just…wait for the glue to dry before you do anything," Olyvia said, "We'll deal with the blood later. Now be _quiet_."

She said the last word in a whisper before shutting the door, and Steve could hear her retreating footsteps. Olyvia headed back downstairs to greet her mother, since trying to hide herself would only look suspicious, plus she still had some blood downstairs to clean up. Heading to the kitchen first, she began wiping up the remaining blood droplets on the floor when her mother walked in, who gave a surprised yelp at the sight of the bloody paper towel in her daughter's hand.

"Olyvia! What on earth?"

"I cut myself," Olyvia said.

Brenda walked over to her daughter, and then glanced into the trash can, where there were even more bloody towels, "Just cut yourself?"

Olyvia tossed the soiled napkin into the trash and held up her hands so her mother could see. Blood was already seeping through her own bandages.

"What were you doing that caused this?" her mother asked shrilly, "I thought you were feeling sore today anyway?"

"I am, extremely so," Olyvia replied, "But I thought going on a short walk might help a little. It was on my walk though that…well, I don't exactly know what happened, but there was shrapnel falling out of the sky from something, and I had to catch a huge piece of sheet metal to avoid being sliced in two. This is the damage."

"You caught it?" Brenda asked incredulously, "Livy—."

"I already told you mom, it was either catch it, or let myself be cut in half," Olyvia said, "I really didn't have the chance to dodge."

Her mother pursed her lips, forming them into a thin straight line, "You need to be more careful Livy."

"It wasn't my fault shrapnel was falling from the sky," Olyvia said, "Had I known it would happen, I would have stayed inside."

Brenda sighed, "Okay…okay. Just…clean up your mess."

"Working on it," Olyvia said, grabbing another paper towel and getting it damp.

Once she was finished cleaning up the blood trail to the bathroom, and the few drops towards the stairs, she told her mom she was going to go take a nap in her room for a little while and went back upstairs, taking a damp rag with her. Slipping into her bedroom, she found that the Captain hadn't moved from the spot she had pushed him to, and that there really wasn't too much blood coming from the wound anymore.

"Looks like it's working," Olyvia sighed in relief, "Think you can finish up from here then?"

Steve nodded, and she handed him the damp rag she brought up.

"I'll just…be out here in case you need a hand," Olyvia said, inching towards the door.

As Olyvia slipped out the door and shut it, Steve paused when he realized he didn't hear a single sound from the door shutting. That was odd. Dismissing the thought, he went back to patching himself up.

Once outside the door, Olyvia leaned against it with a heavy sigh. She was just so exhausted, and just tired of all this crap that had been going on in her life. It just couldn't get worse could it?

After resting there for a few minutes, she opened her eyes as she stood up straight again, and turned to head to the bathroom to check if there was any cleaning that needed to be done in there, only to find Loki standing right in front of her. She nearly jumped out of her skin from how badly Loki startled her.

"Geez! What is up with you and my sister and the not letting your presence be known?" Olyvia asked, placing a hand over her thundering heart, "I almost hit you."

"Sorry, it's just…I wanted to ask a favor of you," Loki said.

"A favor?" Olyvia asked, "What makes you think I'd do a favor for you? After scaring me half to death?"

"I just want you to tell Dianne goodbye for me," Loki said, "I really cannot stay any longer to do that myself."

"I think Dianne would prefer you telling her in person," Olyvia said, "You know, that way she can say goodbye as well."

Loki sighed, "You don't understand, I don't have the luxury of time to do that."

"So you're just going to run again?" Olyvia asked, "What good is that going to do Loki? Really?"

"You don't understand, but there isn't time for me to explain—."

Loki was interrupted by Olyvia's bedroom door opening up, and his heart leapt into his throat seeing Captain America standing there, glaring daggers at him. Olyvia jumped again, and turned around, finding that he had put his shirt back on, but it looked like he possibly rushed through it, since it was still slightly askew.

"So you have been hiding here Loki," Steve growled.

A smirk tugged at Loki's lips, "If it isn't the soldier again. Will it always be you I encounter first?"

"Wait…you _know_ each other?" Olyvia asked. She was certain they knew _of _each other, especially if Captain America was one of the ones after Loki, but actually knew him, she didn't expect that.

"Well enough to know you should keep your distance," Steve said, "And step out of my way. Loki, you are coming with me."

"Do you think I'll come that easily?" Loki rebutted.

Olyvia began to panic, looking back and forth from Loki to the Captain, "Wait guys, you are _not_ going to fight in my house. Not with my mo—."

She didn't have the chance to finish, Steve jumping past her and grabbing Loki by the collar before delivering a swift punch to his jaw. Olyvia gasped shrilly as a fight then broke out and they went falling to the ground. As the two landed, they paused a moment in confusion since neither heard any sound as Loki's back hit the wooden floor. The pause didn't last long though, as they continued to fight each other, but they were starting to get even more confused as absolutely no sounds were heard from their fighting. Suddenly Steve was pulled away from Loki, and Olyvia moved in between the two, holding out her arms to keep the two away from each other. Both stood hardly an inch away from the palms of her hands, glaring daggers at each other.

"You two are _not_ going to fight in my house," Olyvia hissed, keeping her voice down as she looked between the two men, "One, my mother is just downstairs and I don't want her finding _two_ guys in the house, especially when I've been home alone today. Or at least supposed to be. So be quiet! You can kill each other later, and outside."

"I can't let him escape," Steve said.

"Think you can catch me?" Loki challenged.

Just as Loki was about to use his magic and disappear, Olyvia reached out and grabbed him by his neck, making him choke a little from the force of it.

"Don't even think about it," Olyvia growled, turning around and pushing him into her bedroom and forcing him to sit down on the bed, "Sit. Stay."

Loki coughed once she released her hold, bringing his hand to this throat to check if she had crushed anything, before glaring at her, "I am not some animal you can order around."

"You move, I'll shoot you again," Olyvia threatened, "I do not want a mess, and whatever reason _he,_" she motioned over to Steve, "is here for you, you need to face it. No more running Loki. You have to face the consequences of your actions, whatever they may be."

"He brought an alien army to earth in an attempt to take it over, nearly destroying New York City in the process," Steve said, "He then escaped the Asgardian custody he was under."

"I thought my brother would have told you who had arrived though," Loki said.

"Wait, so _you_ were the one who tried destroying New York?" Olyvia asked Loki.

"I wasn't trying to destroy this city you speak of," Loki replied, "It was merely the starting point of…my plans for world dominion."

"Yes, because destroying the world makes it so much easier to rule over it," Olyvia said sarcastically, "You just have the rubble to rule over."

"I wasn't in my right mind," Loki said, starting to raise his voice as he stood to stand over Olyvia, "Never in my whole life have I ever wanted to be a king, to rule over anyone. I merely wanted to be my brother's equal! Thanos used that desire, to somehow twist my mind into thinking I wanted to rule over Midgard."

"Midgard?"

"Earth," Steve explained.

"Oh…who's Thanos?" Olyvia asked, still confused.

Loki sighed, and sat back down onto the bed. This girl was starting to frustrate him, having to explain _everything_ to her.

"So you really didn't want to take over earth?" Steve asked.

Loki shook his head.

"Well that's…hard to believe," Steve muttered.

"It's the truth though," Loki said.

"And this coming from the one who is called the Master of Lies," Steve rebutted.

"Hey, hey, hey you two, stop it!" Olyvia ordered, then went over to Steve, grabbed him by his upper right arm, and steered him over to the chair at her desk, "Now you sit. Stay. You can watch Loki from where you are. If he tries leaving…you can go ahead and throw the shield strapped on your back at him."

Steve looked over to Loki and glared, who just glared back at him. He had every intention to do just that if Loki so much as twitched.

"Now behave you two," Olyvia ordered as she headed out her bedroom door and shut it behind her.

The two continued to glare at each other, almost daring the other to make a move, so they could settle this problem once and for all.

* * *

Once her mother had returned to work, Olyvia headed back upstairs to babysit the two guys, who obviously wanted to go at each other's throats again. Olyvia offered to let them out back and finish what they started, but Steve refused, since now he had Loki in his custody, he didn't want to chance him escaping. So Olyvia had to babysit the two for the rest of the afternoon, during which time Steve finally introduced himself properly, when he wasn't busy glaring at Loki. After only a few hours, Olyvia had them go out to the barn to hide because it was close to the time Rosemary returned from school and she didn't want her sister to accidently stumble upon them, because with her mouth, she would blab the instant her mother stepped through the door.

Olyvia waited in the living room for Rosemary to return, trying to act like everything was normal when she walked in. Hearing the front door open and close, Olyvia leaned over in her seat on the couch to see Rosemary making her way into the living room, setting her backpack on the floor beside the one recliner they had.

"Hey, how was school?" Olyvia asked, trying to make some conversation.

"Fine," Rosemary replied, "Um, Livy, do you know what is flying around out back?"

Olyvia paled. Something was flying around outside?

"No…," Olyvia replied, getting to her feet and heading to the back door to see for herself what her sister was talking about.

Stepping onto the back porch, Olyvia could only see something rather small in size zipping back and forth through the air in probably about a half mile radius above the trees that consisted a lot of their back yard. It was difficult to determine what it was from so far away, and it moving around so fast. Rosemary came to stand beside her sister on the porch, Olyvia watching the flying object with a confused look on her face.

"I really don't know," Olyvia replied, "But hey, tomorrow at school you can tell your friends you saw a UFO."

"But I thought you said you didn't know what it was, how can you know it's an alien?" Rosemary asked.

Olyvia sighed, "UFO doesn't mean alien. It means _unidentified flying object_. And that, is an object which is flying that is unidentified."

"Oh," Rosemary muttered.

"Come on, let's go back inside before any more weird things happen," Olyvia said.

Rosemary turned to head inside when she paused, "Any…_more_? What happened to you today? I thought you were going to veg out in front of the TV all day."

Olyvia chuckled nervously, "Well…I think I've had enough adventure today to last me a lifetime, that's all I'll say."

"Is that why your hands are bandaged, or were you acting like a ninja?"

"You've been watching too much Anime," Olyvia said, patting her sister on the head, "Just go inside."

They hadn't even taken one step when Oscar, who had been napping on the porch the whole afternoon, suddenly bolted off the deck with a ferocious bark. Whirling around, the girls saw two people wearing all black limp over to the woodpile shed and hastily climb up as fast as they could before Oscar arrived.

"Who's in our yard?" Rosemary asked.

"Get inside Rosemary, let me take care of this," Olyvia said, heading down the porch steps to follow after her dog.

"I'm not going to leave you alone," Rosemary said, hurrying to her sister's side, "You're not in tip-top shape, I'm coming with in case you need backup."

"I hope to not need it."

As she neared the woodpile, she paused. The faces of the two people sitting on top of it were very familiar, she would have sworn she saw them before. Before approaching them, she grabbed the maul set next to the stump used to chop the wood, just in case she needed it. The two looked to be in really bad condition, like Steve had been. Then the realized where she had seen them before. They were with Steve that day at the lake. Or…Steve was with them, she wasn't quite sure how that worked.

"Okay, what is up with you people following us around?" Olyvia asked.

"So you already ran into one of us earlier?" the girl asked through her labored breathing.

"Maybe," Olyvia replied.

"Wait, they've been following us?" Rosemary asked, "How do you know that? And who are they?"

"I'd like to know that myself," Olyvia replied. All she had was conjecture as to who they might be, not facts.

"Once we find the rest of our group, we may give you some answers," the girl said, "As for now, we're still looking for them, and need to acquire medical attention."

Olyvia pursed her lips. She didn't exactly trust these people, but they were hurt, and badly, so she felt she had to help them a little. Before she could say anything though, something dropped down in front of her, something that was only slightly taller than her, and was red and gold. As a reflex she swung out with a fist and caught Iron Man on the side of his helmet, and he went flying the fifty feet to the barn, breaking through the side wall. Oscar snarled and chased after him, but Olyvia quickly told him to stay, and he screeched to a halt, a deep menacing growl still rumbling in his chest.

"What the heck is going on here?" Rosemary asked, looking to and from each person.

"Oh my gosh I just punched Iron Man," Olyvia panicked. Everyone knew Iron Man, and who _was_ Iron Man, "I just punched Tony Stark. I'm a dead woman! Wait a minute, why is _he_ here? And who are _you_ then?" Olyvia asked, pointing at the redhead and blond still sitting on top of the shed.

"Ow, and here I thought only Banner and Thunderhead had a mean swing," Tony said as he pushed himself to his feet and began stumbling over to them again, "And maybe the Captain."

Olyvia began to back away from Stark, pushing Rosemary back with her, holding her arms out protectively to keep Rosemary directly behind her, "Okay, what the hell do you want here?"

"We want him," came Steve's voice, who had Loki by the back of his collar and had exited out the hole in the side of the barn.

"So you are alive," Stark said, turning to look at him, "And you have Loki. What were the chances of that."

"Figured as much," Olyvia barely heard the redhead say. Did that mean then they assumed Loki had been here then?

"Okay, you guys just…get off my property!" Olyvia shouted, "You have who you want, just go! You're causing a huge mess already, I want you gone before you cause anymore!"

"We would, but there is one small issue," Stark said.

Olyvia rolled her eyes. Of course there was, when wasn't there?

"The director of S.H.I.E.L.D wants you and your sisters as well," Stark said, "Well…he said _talk_, but I'm assuming there's more to it."

"Shield?" Olyvia and Rosemary asked in confusion.

"Strategic Homeland…, Natasha a little hand?"

"That doesn't sound like it spells out shield to me," Rosemary whispered to Olyvia.

"Just…shush Rosemary."

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division," Natasha finished for Stark.

"Who the what now?" Rosemary asked in confusion.

"I see why they stick with just S.H.I.E.L.D," Olyvia muttered.

"How are you holding up, by the way, Natasha? Clint?" Stark asked.

"Now you ask?" Natasha asked incredulously.

"We're doing great Stark," Clint said sarcastically, "How do you think we're holding up, we're bruised, beaten, and possibly broken here."

"Detain Loki and bring him back to our place so we can get ourselves taken care of," Natasha ordered, "Where's Bruce and Thor?"

"My brother is here?" Loki asked, finally speaking.

"More of you? When is this going to end?" Olyvia wailed, "That's it, I'm going inside and forgetting about all of this. Come on Rosemary, back inside. Oscar, come!"

Oscar quickly followed at his master's heels back to the house, where Olyvia actually had him come inside the house, along with the other dog that was still sitting on the porch.

Steve walked over to the others, pushing Loki forward as well. The trickster was starting to look ill seeing the others there. He wasn't looking forward to seeing this brother though. Not at all.

"Are you sure you two will be able to make it back to the house?" Steve asked Clint and Natasha. They looked far worse than he had, and he didn't think he could have even walked back, since they were without alternate transportation.

"We can try," Clint said.

Stark's helmet moved away from his face so it was visible, "How about we just stay here and patch you up, since we'll be taking the girls in our custody anyway."

"We've intruded in on them enough today Stark," Steve argued.

"Oh and like you haven't?" Stark asked doubtfully, "You look hardly injured, and I doubt even with your unnatural super healing abilities, you have already recovered from that fall so obviously someone helped you out there, since you didn't have any medical supplies."

Steve pursed his lips, not even bothering with a retort. How could he when Stark's accusation was true? But then again, Olyvia did offer to help, he merely took it, instead of asking or barging in.

"Stark does make a point though," Clint said, "Fury wants to speak to the girls, and he'll only do that when we have them in our custody, we might as well stay."

Steve sighed. It looked like he would be losing this argument. As Stark helped Clint and Natasha down, they were soon joined by two others, one of which having to hold up his torn pants since he was back in his human form.

"Brother!" Thor's voice boomed loudly as he saw Loki, and quickly closed the distance between the two of them and embraced him, Steve still keeping a hold on Loki's collar, and Loki tensing in his brother's hold, "I am glad to see you are well."

"I _was_ doing rather well," Loki said tersely.

"I know you are not pleased to see me," Thor said, "but we're here to help you Loki."

"That doesn't quite appear to be the case," Loki said, referring to Steve's firm grip.

"I'm not here to help Loki," Stark said, "I'm just here to keep lunatics from destroying the world."

Thor shot a glare at Stark, who only ignored it.

"So are we all in agreement then?" Stark didn't wait for a reply before continuing, "Yes? Good, let's get moving."

* * *

The living room wasn't feeling like a living room anymore, but more like a hospital room with everyone tending to their injuries. Luckily the one girl out of everyone else in the group of trespassers brought along a first aid kit, saying she grabbed it from the wreckage, so they weren't using up the Harris's supplies. They still had to use some, but they at least weren't depleting them.

"Please tell me you guys will be gone in an hour," Olyvia said as she looked up at the clock while she paced in front of the television, "My mom will be here and she will…have a coronary seeing all of you here, and the blood, and your weapons. She's going to freak."

"Sorry, but uh…like I said earlier you and your sisters have to come with us too," Stark said, "so we have to wait for…who again?"

"Dianne," Steve, Clint and Natasha replied in unison.

Olyvia's face went pale, "How do you know my sister's name?"

"We know all your names," Natasha replied, wincing as Clint relocated her shoulder, "It was part of our job."

Olyvia sat down on the ottoman for one of their other chairs, and dropped her head into her hands with a groan. She thought they were done being followed by agents, but here they were again. She didn't want to go. No, she _wouldn't_ go. She didn't know what they would do, and she wasn't going to trust them, even if they were renowned as heroes.

"When you say we have to go with you," Olyvia began, realizing something, "Where is it that we'll have to go?"

"Can't tell you that," Clint replied.

"Then just tell me how far away, and how long," Olyvia reiterated, "Is it on the other side of the world, next door, a few hours, and if you plan to keep us for only an hour to interrogate us."

"We don't know how long our director would want to keep you," Clint said.

"Though he may want to recruit you, if it is true that you and your sisters possess some… unnatural capabilities," Natasha added.

Olyvia stood to her feet, and turned stiffly to the group that had invaded her living room, jaw clenched and her hands balled into fists. These people were just trying to ruin her life, weren't they?

"We won't be going anywhere with you," Olyvia said darkly.

"I don't think Fury offered that much of a choice," Stark said.

"I have a funeral to attend next week!" Olyvia shouted, making everyone jump, "There is no person in this world, or any worldly disaster that would keep me from going to see my grandfather off. I didn't get to say goodbye in person, and that will be the only way I get to now. Try and take me, I can't guarantee any of you will be able to walk again."

Tears were streaming down Olyvia's face now, and the others only stared at her numbly, not expecting that outburst out of her. Rosemary stood from where she was sitting behind her sister in the chair, and wrapped her arms around her sister consolingly.

"Just breathe Livy," Rosemary said.

Olyvia took in a few deep breaths before lowering herself back down onto the ottoman, Rosemary letting go to let her do so. Steve turned to Clint and Natasha, who were just finishing bandaging the last of their injuries.

"Clint, Natasha, could we speak for a moment?" Steve asked.

They nodded, and pushed themselves out of their seats on the couch and limped after Steve onto the back porch, after handing Loki over to Thor to keep a hold of. Once the door was shut behind them, Steve spoke.

"Are you going to try to take them by force?" Steve asked.

"Well, we would prefer they come willingly, but Fury wanted to speak with them, and in person so don't think over the computer will work," Natasha replied.

"Plus we don't exactly want to stay here for a week," Clint added, "Thanos is still out there, looking for this place. Honestly, I'm surprised he hasn't found us yet. We have to move soon."

They did make a point, but Steve doubted any of them, except perhaps Bruce in his Hulk mode, could drag Olyvia onto whatever carrier they would be using to fly back to the helicarrier.

"Okay…but how will we get back to base?" Steve asked, noticing a flaw in their plan.

The two agents pursed their lips. Right, their quinjet here had just been destroyed. They didn't quite think that one through.

"Well…we do still have that quinjet in the city," Natasha said, "From when we first arrived here. We would have to go there."

"That would be…an interesting trip," Clint muttered, remembering the mountain road that was between them and their destination. He could just see it now, everyone getting road-sick and puking all over each other.

"What about another option," Steve said, "Would Fury be against coming out here himself with another quinjet, and just talking to the girls here?"

"It's not exactly a place for secrecy," Clint said.

"We're out in the middle of nowhere here, Clint," Natasha said, "Do you think the birds will go off and tell our secrets."

Clint rolled his eyes, "We have no guarantee we know who will be listening."

"You…didn't really answer my question," Steve pointed out.

"I'm not sure how Fury would feel about coming out here," Natasha said, "I mean, he's gone to recruit people himself, instead of having them brought to him. Want me to ask?"

"If you could."

Natasha nodded, and pulled out a phone from her pocket. It wasn't the best way of communication with S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, but it would have to do. The rest of their equipment was still at their place here. Natasha limped off around the corner of the deck as she spoke with an agent, asking to speak with Fury, to have a bit of privacy as they spoke. She was gone for quite some time before she came limping back, placing the phone back in its pocket.

"Fury has agreed to come," Natasha said, "But he'll be bringing along a team as well."

"What for?" Steve asked.

"Well, if we're going to be here a week, he wants as much protection detail as he can get," Natasha replied, "We still have Thanos to worry about."

The two nodded in understanding, both glancing out to the woods. Thanos was still out there… somewhere.

* * *

Olyvia was slightly more pleased to hear that this Director Fury was going to come to them to speak with them instead of forcefully removing them from their home and family. She was still irked that he had these people following them as they went about their lives, and that they had intruded on their home, and broke a few things while they were at it. Though…the barn was technically Olyvia's fault.

It was a quarter after five when Brenda arrived home, freezing in the entryway when she saw seven more people sitting in her living room, all equipped with weapons, familiar and foreign.

"Mom, before you scream, I do have an explanation," Olyvia began.

"Who are these people!?" she screeched.

"I'm getting there," Olyvia replied, "They—."

"What are they doing in my house?"

"I'm trying to explain, if you'll just let me—."

"Get out of my house! I will have you all arrested for trespassing!"

"Mom!" Olyvia shouted, "Just let me talk for a minute, geez."

"Then start talking!" Brenda shouted. She was only a _little_ miffed.

"Mom, they're here about…Dianne, Rosemary and I," Olyvia said, "They've been following us for I think just over a week."

"For what reason?" Brenda asked shrilly, before it dawned on her, and she strode towards the others in the room, who started taking a few steps back, "You are not going to take my girls from me!"

"Mom! Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom!" Olyvia exclaimed, trailing after her mother, "Their director is coming to talk to us. I don't know exactly what is going on, they apparently aren't allowed to divulge the information."

Brenda looked over each person standing in front of her, going back to one in particular after she ran down the line.

"Is that…Tony Stark?"

"Yeah," Olyvia replied.

"And just who are these other people?"

Olyvia turned to the others, "I'd like to know that myself. They haven't introduced themselves."

Going down the line, the group quickly informed the woman of their names, hoping that would put her at ease somewhat. They were sure she was still very, very, _very_ upset with their presence. After storming off to her bedroom to put her things away, she returned to keep an eye on them. About twenty minutes later, Dianne arrived, freezing in the same spot when she noticed there were too many people in the room. Then her eyes landed on Loki, and that he was being detained by a man wearing similar attire to Loki's.

"What's going on here?" Dianne asked as she walked into the living room, dropping her bag onto the floor.

"We're still waiting for all the answers ourselves," Olyvia said, "But they are here, originally, for Loki. Unfortunately, they stumbled on us as well and want to talk to us about…you know what."

Dianne went pale. That was exactly what she had been trying to avoid, yet they still knew. How they did, she would like to know.

"Are you alright Loki?" Dianne asked, concerned whether they may have hurt him if a fight had broken out.

"I'm fine," Loki replied.

"So you two know each other as well?" Steve asked, because it was made obvious earlier that Olyvia had known him.

Olyvia scoffed, "Know him? They're practically best buddies."

"What?" Rosemary asked, "I've never seen him before."

Olyvia bit her lips, knowing she had said too much as Dianne glared at her.

"I'm sorry, it just slipped out," Olyvia squeaked.

"How do you know him Dianne?" Brenda asked.

"He's the one Olyvia shot," Dianne said, pointing an accusing finger at her sister, "That's how."

Olyvia opened her mouth to speak, but caught herself this time and snapped her jaw shut. Dianne's death glare may have helped her remember to keep her mouth shut though.

"Doesn't explain how you two are, apparently, friends," Brenda said.

"Is that why then you kept disappearing outside for hours on end?" Rosemary asked.

"Wasn't me who said it," Olyvia said as Dianne looked like she was about to strangle her.

"You…let a boy…_stay here_?" Brenda asked, rising to her feet.

"I was just trying to be helpful!" Dianne said in her defense.

"But he's a guy!"

"He stayed in the barn, Mom," Dianne continued to argue.

"Wow…this is better than a soap opera," Stark commented, earning a slap on the back of his head from Steve, since it was the only area not covered by his suit.

Dianne and Brenda continued to have their heated discussion for nearly ten minutes, everyone shrinking back into the hallway or kitchen in hopes to avoid Brenda's wrath. They were really getting into it when suddenly there was a loud bang along with the sound of wood shattering. Whirling around, everyone's heart dropped into their stomach when they saw Thanos standing on the remains of the back porch.


	7. Chapter 7

**I…have absolutely nothing to randomly say before this chapter so I'm just going to get on with things here.**

**harrylee94: Yeah, Rosemary is so lost. She'll be brought up to date soon though. And as for epicness, I hope this chapter is as epic as you hoped.**

**Crimson TigerLily: Another reviewer! Yay! I do feel the love. Makes me feel all fuzzy inside. And there will be more Loki romance because he does need love. He's so misunderstood.**

**Aya-Shoru: I cried writing a good amount of the chapters, but sorry for making you cry. It just means I'm doing my job right though!**

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Seeing Thanos, the Avengers sprung to action, Bruce changing into the Hulk and Thor releasing his hold on Loki. Loki began backing away from the door as the others headed to it, debating on whether to run while he had his chance. He was considering doing so, when he looked over to Dianne. She looked absolutely petrified, lost and confused as to what the fighting was all about and why it was happening. He couldn't just run away, and leave her behind with the possibility of Thanos getting to her. He couldn't…no, _wouldn't_ allow that to happen.

Olyvia grabbed her sisters and her mother and drug them over to the couch, ducking down so they were hidden behind as they heard glass shattering from the Hulk breaking through the door that led to the back deck. Dianne risked peeking over the back to see what was going on. Their "visitors" were all engaged in battle with the intruder, despite still aching from their injuries, but they weren't doing all that well against him.

"Loki, what the hell is going on?" Dianne asked, since he was nearby, and hadn't joined the fray.

"That's…that's Thanos," Loki replied, "He's the one I've been running from."

Dianne looked back to this Thanos character. Not only did he look frightening, the way he fought showed he had great power, and if things continued the way they were going, they were going to have a demolished house, or worse, they would all be dead. Knowing what needed to be done, Dianne grabbed Olyvia by her wrist.

"Livy, I need your help," Dianne said as she began to move away from the couch.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Olyvia said, pulling against her sister so she couldn't make her budge, "You mean go out there? And fight? Dia, that guy is…is…pommeling the others. We have no chance!"

"But if we help, they might," Dianne rebutted, "So come on!"

"Can I help with anything?" Rosemary asked.

Dianne thought for a moment before replying, "When you hear the signal, I want you to blast the guy off the porch. I know you'll hit the others, but focus on him, we need to distance him from the house. And believe me, you'll know the signal."

Rosemary nodded, and the two sisters then hurried over to the front door, Loki following them.

"Dianne what are you doing?" Loki asked.

"Helping," Dianne replied, pushing her sister ahead of her to go through the door.

"You're no match against him," Loki said, "He'll only kill you."

"I have to try," Dianne said before slipping out the door.

Loki sighed in frustration. She was going to get herself killed! Looking to the back door, then to the front, he sighed again.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered before heading out to follow Dianne and Olyvia so he could help as well, or at least try.

As he came upon the sisters at the corner of the house, Dianne was trying to convince Olyvia to pick up a large boulder out there and move it closer to the other side of the house.

"You really think that a boulder will do any harm?" Olyvia asked incredulously, "Really? That is your genius plan?"

"I don't have time to explain Livy!" Dianne nearly shouted, becoming frustrated with her sister, "I need something big, and this will just do the job so move it!"

Olyvia rolled her eyes, and then picked up the boulder, which had to be the same height as her, and about three feet across in width at its widest point. Loki's eyes grew so wide it looked like they might fall out. He figured Olyvia was strong, but not that strong.

"Oh I am so going to need a hot bath after this," Olyvia groaned as she walked along the wall of the house towards the back.

"What are you planning?" Loki asked as he walked up to Dianne as she followed behind Olyvia.

"I don't have time to explain," Dianne replied in frustration, "Why are you here anyway? I thought you didn't want to fight him."

"I want to help you," Loki said, "If I can."

"Well, if I find something for you to do, I'll let you know," Dianne said, "Okay Livy, that's good enough."

Olyvia set the boulder down, and peeking around the corner, Dianne saw that the fight had made its way off the porch. With a nod to her sister, Dianne stepped back and let Olyvia get closer. Everything suddenly went silent, and those engaged in combat all paused for a moment in confusion. Then suddenly an eardrum bursting shout sounded through the air, and the group in the backyard were all blown towards the trees, Thanos flying the furthest.

"Okay Livy, I need you to throw the boulder," Dianne said, placing her hand against it for a few seconds.

Olyvia's eyes grew wide with terror when she saw what her sister was doing, "You could have told me you were doing that at least!"

"Just throw it!"

Olyvia hastily grabbed the boulder, and then chucked it at Thanos before shouting, "Everybody down!"

Olyvia tackled Dianne and Loki to the ground, not bothering watching to see where the boulder landed. Everyone else had seen her throw it, and could only stare in shock at the sheer strength she possessed. The boulder would have landed right on Thanos, had he not taken the one step to the side that he did. It dropped beside him, and he smirked.

"You are more foolish than I thought," he laughed, "Typical mort—."

He was cut off due to the boulder suddenly exploding, and the team of superheroes was thrown back from the blast, even the Hulk. When they landed, they raised their arms over their heads to protect themselves from falling debris, save for the Hulk who just let it land on him, not really caring about it. Pushing themselves up, they found a crater at least thirty feet in diameter, left where Thanos had been standing, and him nowhere in sight.

Olyvia pushed herself to her feet, offering a hand to her sister, who then offered a hand to Loki, who just sort of stared in shock at the crater. How had Dianne managed that? Dianne and Olyvia headed over to the crater's edge, looking down into it.

"Think he's…dead?" Olyvia asked.

"It will take more than that to kill Thanos," Loki replied, who was still trailing behind Dianne, "Hurt him, I'm sure you did, but not kill."

"Wow…," Olyvia muttered, before turning and punching her sister in the arm, making her gasp loudly and grab onto her arm where she had been punched.

"Ow! What was that for!?"

"You could have told me you were trying to blow him up!" Olyvia said, "I don't exactly like having a ticking time bomb in my arms!"

"I didn't have time to explain my plan!"

"It would have taken you two seconds!" Olyvia rebutted, "All you had to say was, 'Livy, I'm going to make the boulder a bomb and I want you to throw it at him.' Not that long of an explanation."

Dianne rolled her eyes, "There was more to it than that."

"Whatever," Olyvia said, turning around and shuffling back towards the house, "I'm taking a hot bath, and then a nap. Today has been too strenuous. Goodbye."

As she neared the deck rubble, Rosemary hopped out over it to her sister, looking positively amped.

"That was so cool! I can't believe they flew back so far when I blasted them! I—."

"Midget! Midget!" Olyvia shouted to interrupt her little sister, cringing ever so slightly, "My ears are still ringing from your shout earlier, so please…be…_quiet_."

"But—."

"Shhhhhh," Olyvia shushed her sister before climbing over the rubble and into the house.

It was then realized that Loki didn't have anyone keeping a hold of him, and Thor quickly went over to do that, muttering an apology to the others. Bruce was back to his old self, going back to holding up his pants, and the group made their way back over to the house, where Brenda was standing in the broken doorway, a death glare on her face.

"You guys are paying for this."

* * *

Olyvia tried napping, but since it was the daytime, it was nearly impossible. Plus, she had her cat crawling all over her on the bed, demanding attention, and Oscar sleeping by her bed, running and growling in his sleep. The Siamese, Rag Doll mix finally settled with just laying on her chest, purring loudly and causing Olyvia's whole torso to hum. After trying to nap for two hours, she heard the sound of an engine, followed a few minutes later by a knock on her door. Olyvia sighed. The Director must be here then.

"Come in," Olyvia said loud enough for whoever was on the other side to hear.

The door opened slowly, as if whoever was opening it was rather cautious about doing so, and Olyvia felt her face heat up seeing it was Steve.

"I was asked to inform you that Director Fury is here," Steve said.

Olyvia sat up, the cat sliding down to her lap as she did so, giving out a disgruntled meow, "I figured as much. Okay, time to move."

Olyvia felt like she was trying to walk underwater her body was moving so slow. She was so sore and stiff from everything that had happened in the last two days, she couldn't do much anymore now. The cat jumped off the bed to follow, Oscar waking due to having been the springboard for the cat on its decent, and got up as well to follow since his master was leaving.

"You feeling alright?" Steve asked, seeing how weary and in pain Olyvia looked.

"That question sounds familiar," Olyvia said with a pained smile, "Sounds like I heard it just yesterday."

"You look a lot worse now than yesterday though," Steve said, then realized how bad that sounded, "Not that you look bad. Just tired and…"

Steve clamped his mouth shut. It was just better if he stopped now. Olyvia smiled though, making his heart do a little flip.

"Oh, I know I look horrible right now," Olyvia said, "Like the walking dead," then her eyes brightened, "Ooh…maybe I can scare Rosemary. This is perfect."

Hobbling down the hallway, Olyvia began groaning something about brains…or maybe that was all she was saying, her dog and cat following obediently behind her. Well, the dog was at least, the cat was sort of darting back and forth behind and in front of her feet. Steve had the feeling he should head downstairs first in case the cat tried killing her on her decent. So moving past her in the hall, he headed down to join the others in the living room, informing Fury that Olyvia was on her way.

Olyvia shuffled her way in, going behind the chair her sister was sitting in, slowly wrapped her fingers around the side of the chair, and then peered her head around making some ungodly dying animal sound. Rosemary screamed, making Olyvia cringe and fall over, everyone else in the room cringing as well.

"Brains…" Olyvia muttered from the floor.

"Livy! I hate it when you do that! Stop it!" Rosemary shouted.

"Yes, please don't do it again," Dianne said, a finger in her ear as if trying to clear it out or stop it from ringing, "She's too loud."

Olyvia groaned as she achingly pulled herself back to her feet, using the chair to brace herself up in a standing position once she was there.

"So can we get the interrogations over with, because it's almost eight o'clock, and I want to go to bed," Olyvia mumbled.

Scanning over the room, Olyvia found there had to be at least a dozen more people in there, the one looking to be the leader dressed completely in black, wearing a duster instead of a suit, and had an eye patch over his left eye. He didn't look very happy, a frown on his face as he stared blankly at Olyvia for a few seconds before turning to Brenda.

"If you and your daughters would come with me, we'll speak in the quinjet," Fury said.

"How are we to know you won't trap us in there and send us off to wherever it is you want to take us?" Dianne asked.

"From what I heard happened today, I'm sure you could all easily get out of it if you so desired," Fury said as he walked toward the now tarp covered back wall.

Seeing as he wasn't stopping, Brenda, Dianne and Rosemary all got up and began to follow. Olyvia groaned, muttering something about more walking before pushing herself off of the chair and following as well. She was the last to arrive at the jet, the doors closing behind her, making her jump.

"This is as close to secrecy as we can get," Fury said, seeing the look on everyone's faces, "I don't want to risk someone somehow overhearing our discussion."

"Then let's get this over with," Dianne said, "I am eager to be elsewhere."

"I'm starting to get claustrophobic," Rosemary muttered.

Fury motioned for them to take a seat in one of the chairs along the walls, which they did cautiously, and they began.

* * *

It was almost an hour later before they were done with the questioning, and the girls all waited impatiently for him to excuse them. He had been sitting in his seat with a pensive expression on his face for the last five minutes, not saying a word. Olyvia was starting to fall asleep, resting her head against the wall and just letting her eyelids fall shut since it took too much effort to keep them open any longer. Then finally Fury spoke.

"I'd like to recruit the three of you," Fury said, "Of course, for Rosemary, I would need your mother's expressed permission."

"Hell no!" Brenda replied immediately.

"What do you need us for? You apparently have enough agents or whatever as it is," Dianne asked.

"Most of my agents are just your average human being, given they have certain training," Fury said, "They alone aren't enough though, and the Avengers are hardly a match against this Thanos, as you saw today."

"They weren't exactly in top shape though," Olyvia pointed out, head still lolled back and eyes still shut.

"That's beside the point," Fury rebutted, "With the added help of your unique abilities, we just might stand a chance against him."

"Might?" Dianne asked skeptically, "That's not very encouraging."

"Once you receive training, our chances increase," Fury said, "So what is your answer?"

Dianne pursed her lips in thought. This Thanos guy that they were trying to defeat was after Loki, and he being her friend now, and her liking him quite a bit, she wanted to help him.

"I'm in," Dianne said.

Olyvia jolted awake, staring at her sister with wide eyes, "What? Are you insane?"

"I want to help Loki," Dianne replied, "That guy is after him, and if we stop him, Loki can stop running."

"Oh, I doubt he'll stop running," Fury said, "I'm sure he wants to avoid the consequences for the incident in New York."

"About that," Olyvia began, "Loki said something earlier today about how Thanos twisted his mind into thinking he wanted to take over…Midgard was it? Anyway, to me it sounded a lot like he was being controlled, rather than it being all him. Just my…personal opinion, okay you can stop looking at me like that, it's creepy Patches."

Fury glared at her for the nickname, but said nothing.

"Then even more reason for me to accept," Dianne said, "Maybe we can help Loki clear his name."

"We?" Olyvia asked.

"I'd hate to go alone," Dianne said, her eyes begging for her sister to accept.

Olyvia debated over it a few minutes before looking to Fury, "If I accept, what sort of pay will I be getting, because I'll have to quit my job here."

"It will be substantially more, I assure you," Fury replied.

A pensive expression crossed Olyvia's face as she thought over it, "I'll accept on one condition."

Fury sighed, "And what is that?"

"I get to bring my cat."

"Me too!" Dianne quickly chipped in.

"Nelly is going to freak if you take her," Olyvia said, "You named her Nervous Nelly for a reason."

"I don't care, she's my kitty and I want to keep her," Dianne rebutted.

With another sigh, Fury accepted their conditions. Rosemary tugged on her mother's sleeve.

"Mom, if I can help, I'd like to," Rosemary said.

"You have school, no," her mother replied tersely.

"We'd have her do homeschooling if she came with us," Fury said, "She wouldn't be behind in her classes when she returned."

Brenda looked to Rosemary, who gave her the pleading, puppy eyes.

"You realize you can die, right?" her mother asked.

"Livy will be there to protect me," Rosemary replied.

"Thanks," Olyvia said blandly, "No pressure."

"I'd like to help Mom," Rosemary said again.

Brenda looked like she was going to say no, not wanting all of her kids to go off and chance killing themselves. After a few minutes of deliberation, she sighed.

"As long as you promise to keep up on your schoolwork," Brenda said.

Rosemary nodded, "I promise."

"And I want all of you to keep in touch," Brenda added.

"That may be an issue," Fury said, "We don't want the enemy finding our base."

"If you think you're going to take any of my kids and not allow them to talk to me, you have another thing coming," Brenda snapped.

"I will allow weekly contact," Fury said, "but for the safety of my men, and your kids, I cannot allow any more than that."

Brenda didn't seem content with that, but accepted anyway.

"You will have the week to pack your things," Fury said, "You will be coming to East Coast after the funeral."

"Question," Olyvia said, raising her hand slightly, "Where will we be staying?"

"The helicarrier, one of S.H.I.E.L.D's bases," Fury replied bluntly.

"Oooookay…not very specific, but I guess I can understand."

"And I want to take my cat too!" Rosemary said.

The two sisters groaned. They hated her cat.

* * *

The injured Avengers were seen to by a medical team Fury brought, and were taken back to the house Steve, Clint and Natasha were staying at to stay the night. The other agents remained at the Harris household as a protection detail. Olyvia and Dianne had their last days of work as they finished out the rest of the week, spending the weekend packing more things for their temporary move, though they didn't know how temporary that would be. As for Loki, he was cuffed and held in the quinjet, guarded by half of the agents Fury brought. Dianne tried a few times to go see him, talk to him, but Fury wouldn't allow it.

"What does he think I'm going to do? Let him loose?" Dianne asked no one in particular, since she was all alone in her room, as she boxed up some books she knew she couldn't live a week without, "I just want to talk to him. What's wrong with that?"

Her cat, Nelly, meowed as she walked over to her, rubbing her neck on the corner of the box.

"Yeah, Fury has some serious trust issues," Dianne muttered, "Though, I can't blame him for not trusting Loki, since the two got off on the wrong foot to start, but me? I haven't done anything."

Nelly rubbed her way down the side of the box, before looking up at Dianne, and meowed again.

"Just because I'm friends with him doesn't mean _I'm_ a bad person," Dianne continued, "Loki is very nice. I'm actually…surprised to hear what he's done. Really I am."

Seemingly frustrated, the cat then rammed her head against the back of Dianne's hand. Dianne sighed, a small smile on her face before turning her hand around to pet her cat.

"You're being silly," Dianne said, "You won't like me nearly as much when we leave."

And as if the cat knew what she was saying, she bristled up and took off out the bedroom door. Dianne chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, she's not going to take the move well at all."

* * *

Since the family wasn't to go anywhere without an escort, when it came time to head up to their grandparent's hometown for the funeral, the Avenger team was to go with them. Since the funeral was going to be in the morning, they were going to head up a day early and stay at a hotel in the city where it was to be held, just a half hour from their grandparent's place. Stark wasn't exactly thrilled about it.

"We didn't even know the guy and we still have to go? And actually _attend_ the ceremony?" Stark complained as they waited for the Harris's to finish packing their vehicle for the trip.

Steve shot a glare at Stark, "Have some respect will you? The family is in mourning, the last thing they need is your whining."

"I have better things I could be doing," Stark said, "And funerals are just depressing."

"What, you expect them to be a happy occasion?" Steve asked incredulously.

"In some cases they are."

"You are horrible."

"And you wear tights."

The two were glaring at each other for a few moments when they saw something they weren't expecting.

"Whoa, wait a second. Why is _he_ out here…and liberated of his restraints?" Stark asked, pointing at Loki who was walking beside his brother towards the vehicle the Avenger group would be taking.

"He made a deal Stark," Natasha said, "If he misbehaves, you can have the first shot at him."

Stark frowned as he sighed heavily, "What sort of deal?"

"Wasn't told the details," Natasha replied, "Are we nearly ready to go?"

Stark looked over to the girls still loading things into their vehicle, Olyvia grabbing Rosemary and threatening to pack her in with the rest of it, "No, I don't think so."

They were nearly done though, and as they were finishing up, Fury came over to the group.

"Now if possible, I would like one of my agents riding with you, Mrs. Harris, in case something should go wrong," Fury said.

"I guess I can live with that," Brenda grumbled.

"Awww," the three girls groaned.

"That means we're all going to be squished in the back," Olyvia whined.

"Sorry Rosemary, but you're getting middle," Dianne said to her little sister.

"What? But I get carsick! I need a window!"

"You do not need a window! You just want to make us freeze by having it rolled down all the way!" Dianne argued.

"Girls, girls!" Brenda shouted, "Enough! We don't want bickering before we even start!"

"Ugh this is going to be a long trip," Olyvia moaned, "Three hours will seem like eons."

Fury turned to his team, "Any volunteers?"

Everyone looked hesitant to accept, not wanting to suffer through more arguments like the one they just saw. For Steve though, it was them or Stark in the nearly crowded SUV for three hours. It was a no brainer.

"I'll go sir," Steve said.

"Very well Rogers."

Rosemary elbowed Olyvia in the side, smirking up at her sister, who then turned red as a tomato before hip checking her sister and making her go flying ten feet. Steve saw the exchanged, but had no clue as to why it happened. He was a guy, he didn't understand a woman's mind, nor would he ever. Once everyone double checked on directions and location, it was into their specified vehicles, Dianne running over and saying a quick hi and bye to Loki before running back to her own ride. Rosemary was placed in the middle back seat, much to her chagrin, her sisters taking the seats beside her. Steve took the passenger seat, and buckled up.

"Now get it out of your system before we go," Brenda said to her daughters, not even starting up the car yet.

The sisters then began jostling each other about, shouting out complaints, such as, "She's touching me!" "Are we there yet?" "Rosemary's hitting me!" "Dianne is breathing on me!" "Mom, Olyvia's looking at me!" A lot of them were rather ludicrous.

"Okay done," Olyvia said after the three were silent after a few moments, trying to think if they missed anything.

"Good," Brenda said, starting up the car, "Now behave you three."

"Yes Mom," the three chimed.

Brenda looked over to Steve, "You may end up regretting your decision by the time we reach the end of the driveway."

Steve chuckled, "I guess we'll just see."

* * *

Riding with the Harris' wasn't so bad. Sure there were times when the girls starting acting up, mostly Rosemary wanting to have a window down, but they calmed down relatively quickly. It wasn't until they reached the _other_ mountain pass that they began to have problems. Steve remembered the mountain pass he, Clint and Natasha took to get to the town, coming from the east, but the twisty road was nothing compared to the one they were currently on heading north. Steve thought he had a strong stomach, but even he was feeling a little queasy. Brenda, Dianne, and Olyvia were completely fine, but it was Rosemary who was having issues.

"Pull over," Rosemary almost gagged, her hands slapping over her mouth, "Now! I'm going to puke!"

Finding a decent area to pull over, Brenda did so and the two girls nearly flew out of the car to let Rosemary out. She ran up the small incline to the tree line where she then heaved up her lunch.

"What is going on?" Natasha asked, having pulled over as well and approached Dianne, since she was the closest.

"Oh just Rosemary being carsick," Dianne replied.

"Please may I have a window," Rosemary begged weakly from where she was kneeling on the ground.

Olyvia sighed, "I'll take the middle."

"Still going to be crowded," Dianne complained, "And it seems even more crowded when you're in the middle, miss broad shoulders."

Olyvia frowned. Her sister was in a bad mood, and it took a bit to get her out of it. Steve, overhearing the debate, climbed out of the passenger seat.

"I can just ride in the other vehicle," Steve said.

"Fury specifically asked for someone to ride with them," Natasha said.

"He must not have grown up with siblings," Dianne growled.

"Then I'll switch places with Dianne," Steve said, since she was the one who was the most irritated about the whole situation.

Olyvia snorted, slapping her hand over her mouth when Steve and Natasha turned to her.

"Sorry, it's just…he's bigger than Dianne, it will be…quite cozy. Are you sure you're comfortable with that?"

"Question is, are _you_ comfortable with that Livy?" Rosemary asked, a sly grin on her face as she walked back to the vehicle.

Olyvia again turned the shade of a ripe tomato, looking from Rosemary to Steve before replying, "Y-y-yeah, I'm fine with it. W-why wouldn't I be?"

"I accept the offer," Dianne said, raising her hand, "So we all in agreement then?"

"Sounds like," Olyvia said, "Alright, everyone back in."

Getting into their new seating, Rosemary now sitting directly behind her mother, Olyvia squeezed herself as close as she could to her sister to allow Steve enough space to sit. Needless to say, their shoulders were still brushing against each other. It was times like this that Olyvia wished she wasn't built like her dad. She was just slightly uncomfortable due to sitting next to a guy she thought was really cute. It would only be another hour in a half or so before they would be at their destination though, and have their space again.

Once the car was started, Rosemary's window was instantly rolled down, her leaning her head against the doorframe so the air would be hitting her in the face. Olyvia and Dianne groaned, Olyvia throwing up the hood of her sweater over her head and sticking her hands into the front pocket so she could keep warm. Even doing that, by the time they reached the other side of the mountain, she was shivering.

"Seriously Midget, how are you not freezing?" Olyvia asked as Rosemary napped against the doorframe, not bothered at all by the cool air.

"I'm wearing my sweater," Rosemary replied.

"So am I, and I'm freezing," Olyvia said, "Can't you roll up the window?"

"Do you want me to puke on you?" Rosemary rebutted.

"You can roll down the window when you need to, and do it out the window," Olyvia shot back.

"Girls!" Brenda shouted.

With another groan, Olyvia leaned back in her seat, her head falling back further than she expected since she forgot there was no headrest in the middle, and nearly gave herself whiplash. She felt Steve moving around, but didn't bother looking to see what he was doing, merely squishing Rosemary more to give him room to move around, when she felt something drape across her. Looking down, she found it was Steve's leather jacket.

"You're not cold?" Olyvia asked.

"I've been in worse," Steve said.

Right, she remembered her history lessons where it was said Captain America had disappeared over the Atlantic. Now with him returned to their society, it was only confirmed that they found him in ice, but that didn't necessarily mean he could withstand the cold better, though he was a guy and they seemed to do that anyway.

"You sure?" Olyvia asked again, just to be sure, "I can find a blanket or something."

"I'm fine, really," Steve assured her.

She wasn't going to argue further, since his jacket was warm, and smelled _amazing_. It was musky and sort of reminded her of sandalwood. Glancing over to Rosemary, she found she was smirking at her so Olyvia elbowed her in the side, making her yelp.

"Okay you two, stop it!" Brenda ordered.

Olyvia shot Rosemary a glare, who only snickered in response. She was so asking for it once they got to the city. A few seconds later, she heard her phone go off, informing her she had a text. One, she was surprised she even got service up here, and two, who would be texting her? Getting her phone out, she saw it was from Dianne, even though she was sitting in the front seat. Checking what it said, she saw her sister was asking what was going on between her and Rosemary because she could tell she was teasing her about _something_, she just didn't know what. Olyvia blushed as she typed in the answer, quickly explaining that the guy at the lake she thought was gorgeous, and beautiful, and had the body of a god, was sitting right next to her. It took probably about a minute for her sister to receive the text, who then burst into laughter upon reading it. Blushing even more, Olyvia texted: _Shut up!_ Which only made Dianne laugh again.

"Are you two texting each other in the car?" Brenda asked incredulously.

"We are having a private discussion that we don't want Midget overhearing," Dianne replied with a snigger.

"Wait, we have service?" Rosemary asked.

"Barely, why?" Olyvia replied.

"I can text Juan!" Rosemary said excitedly, pulling out her phone to do just that.

"You might want to roll up your window so you don't lose your phone," Olyvia warned.

Rosemary did as she suggested, rolling up the window so she didn't chance losing her precious phone and Olyvia scoffed.

"Of course, now she rolls it up," Olyvia grumbled, "So she can text _Juan_."

"Stop saying his name like that," Rosemary growled.

"_No_," Olyvia replied in the same manner as she said Juan's name.

"Girls, that's enough," Brenda said warningly.

"We're not fighting," Olyvia replied, "But if it were Dianne back here, Rosemary would already have been thrown out the window."

"Hey, you tried throwing me out of the car window once," Rosemary said.

"_I_ didn't try throwing you out, it was gravity and the two people sliding into you when we went around that corner," Olyvia rebutted.

"You were driving," Rosemary retorted.

"The corner surprised me," Olyvia said in her defense.

Brenda sighed in frustration, apparently giving up on getting her girls to stop arguing. It was enough of a message for the two girls, and they closed their mouths. For about two minutes, but then they were just talking about whatever, instead of having a debate. Their discussion died down after a while, Rosemary going back to watching the scenery, and Olyvia plugging her ear buds into her phone to listen to her music.

Steve rested his head against the door frame, and watched the trees fly by at a blur. Things had finally died down in the car, so now he just had to wait until they arrived at their destination.

* * *

Thanos was angry. No, he was more than angry, he was _pissed_. How could these mortals harm him in the way they had? He was completely taken by surprise by the blast that put him in his current situation. How had that mortal done it? And why? Why were any of those people getting in his way from dealing with the traitorous Trickster, when they themselves didn't want the Trickster around, due to the trouble he caused in Midgard the last time he was there? All Thanos knew, was that he was going to kill everyone that got in his way, starting with that blond girl who hurt him, because _no one_ had ever been capable of injuring him before.


	8. Chapter 8

**Yay I'm somewhere with internet access today! That means you get another chapter! And there was much rejoicing. Yaaaaay… … …**

**Anywho…this is probably the chapter most people have been waiting for…just maybe, I don't know.**

**harrylee94: S.H.I.E.L.D and Fury definitely aren't the girls' favorite. He just might end up regretting his decision one day.**

**Meanxruki: XD I'm glad you like the story. Makes me smile seeing someone enjoying it.**

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Arriving at the hotel, everyone got themselves settled into their rooms, all being on the second floor, in five rooms all next to or across from each other, the room where Loki, Thor and Clint would be staying in the middle of the room layout. Natasha got her own room, as did Stark, since he refused to share, so Steve and Bruce would share another. Brenda informed the others the family would have to be at the church for the funeral services by ten, and that she would have to head to her in-laws house to help her husband get his mother ready, so if it were possible, they would take the girls to the church on time. Natasha assured her that it could be done and that she wouldn't need to worry.

Getting into their room, Olyvia was the first to claim a bed, choosing the one furthest from the window, and the side closest to the nightstand in between the two Queen beds. Dianne would share the bed with her while their mom and Rosemary would share the other. Olyvia was stretching out on her side of the bed as Dianne sat down on her side.

"So, how did sitting next to Steve go?" Dianne asked with a smirk.

"Cozy," Olyvia replied, "Given that we were all squished in the back like sardines, it was very warm and cozy. He smelled really good too by the way, but don't you _dare_ ever tell him that."

"Is that why you still have his jacket on?" Dianne asked.

Olyvia sat up and looked down at herself, finding that she did, in fact, still have Steve's jacket on. During the remainder of the ride she had slipped it on since having it thrown over her wasn't keeping her warm enough anymore, and had totally forgotten about it.

"Oh uh…," Olyvia chuckled nervously, "I uh…may have forgotten about it. You should smell it though, just see for yourself how good he smells."

Olyvia held out her arm to Dianne so she could take a whiff of the sleeve, but Dianne leaned away, "I'll take your word for it."

Pulling back her arm, Olyvia shrugged off the jacket, "I guess I should go return this to him."

"Or you can keep it and start your own little shrine for him," Dianne teased.

Olyvia frowned, "I am not that obsessed!"

"Ah-ha! Not _that_ obsessed, so you are somewhat obsessed then."

"I'm not obsessed at all!" Olyvia said in her defense, "I just…think he's cute is all."

"And thinks he smells good," Dianne added.

"Who are we talking about?" Rosemary asked as she set her suitcase on the ground by the TV.

"Steve," Dianne replied.

Rosemary's mouth formed into an "O" before going back about her business. Olyvia then hopped up onto her feet and slipped on her flats again.

"Where are you going?" Dianne asked.

"I'm going to find Steve and return his jacket," Olyvia replied, grabbing one of the keycards for their hotel room, "I'll be right back."

Heading into the hallway, Olyvia knew their… "friends" were in the rooms around them, but no idea which rooms specifically or who was in which one. So, heading next door to her left, she knocked only to find it was Natasha's room. She was then able to tell her the room numbers the others were in, and that it was up to them which room they took. Turning around, Olyvia then tried another, but no one answered, guessing they were possibly still bringing up luggage. Leaving two rooms left, she went to the furthest one, and went to knock when the door was opened by Steve, who was trying to get Stark out of the room.

"Out!" Steve ordered, sounding like he was at his wits end.

"I just need to talk to Bruce about a few things," Stark rebutted, before glancing over to see Olyvia standing there, staring wide-eyed at the two since she wasn't expecting the door to open so suddenly, "Oh, hello."

"Hi…," Olyvia muttered, still very unused to being in Stark's presence. The fact that he was so famous really intimidated her. Clearing her throat, she looked up at Steve, "I realized I still had this so here you are."

Extending her arms, she held out the jacket to him, and Steve graciously took it, saying a thank you. Stark turned to the Captain with a mischievous look on his face.

"She had your jacket?"

"She was cold, I merely offered it to her," Steve replied.

"I think this is my cue to go," Olyvia said quietly as she turned around to avoid getting in the middle of one of their spats. In the week that they had been around, she had already seen how messy an argument between the two could get.

"Sounds to me like someone just might have a," Stark paused for effect, "crush."

Steve's cheeks flushed red, glancing over to Olyvia to find she was already out of hearing distance and disappearing back into her room. He didn't exactly want her overhearing Stark accuse him of _that_.

"Being chivalrous towards a lady doesn't mean I like her," Steve said in his defense.

"Maybe back in your day, but nowadays guys only do that to get girls they like to like them back," Stark rebutted.

Steve's face flushed a few shades darker, "Just go away!"

Giving Stark a good push, Steve then shut the door behind him. He couldn't wait until this whole mess was over and he could be away from Stark again.

* * *

Olyvia and Dianne were lying in bed, trying to sleep, when that stupid little jingle went off again. Looking at each other first, the two then glared at Rosemary, Dianne having to push herself up onto her elbows to look over Olyvia's shoulders. Rosemary had grabbed her cell phone off the nightstand and was texting, who else, Juan.

"You either tell him to stop texting because it's bedtime, or you turn it off, or else you're going to lose some fingers," Olyvia growled.

"He's just telling me goodnight," Rosemary said.

"It's almost midnight, and he is just _now_ saying goodnight?" Dianne asked incredulously.

"How is Mom sleeping through this?" Olyvia asked sleepily, shoving her face into her pillow, "Not even I am."

"That's because you haven't fallen asleep yet," Dianne pointed out, flopping back down onto her back.

"It's because _Juan_ won't let me."

Rosemary set the phone back down, "Okay, there. I said goodnight."

A minute later, her phone went off again. Olyvia nearly screamed in frustration as she threw an extra pillow at her sister.

"Tell me which digit you'd like to lose first," Olyvia said as she began crawling out of the bed.

"Girls, go to bed," their mother groaned, rolling over onto her side so her back was facing Rosemary, "And no more texting Juan tonight Rosemary."

"Yes mom," Rosemary muttered, while Olyvia mumbled something unintelligible as she crawled back under the covers.

Dianne threw off her covers, and got up onto her feet.

"Where you going Dia?" Olyvia asked sleepily.

"I can't sleep, and I'm dying of thirst," Dianne said, "Did you bring in any water bottles?"

"Uh…," was all an answer Dianne needed.

Dianne sighed and reached into her purse for her wallet, "I'll just go down to the vending machines and get myself a bottle of water. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Taking a keycard, Dianne slipped out into the hall. She wasn't too worried about being seen in her dark blue pajama bottoms and baggy grey t-shirt at this time in the night as she walked down toward the vending machines. Feeding in her money, she punched the button for a bottle of water and waited the few seconds for it to land in the bin on the bottom. She was just starting to unscrew the cap as she turned around, when she jumped seeing someone standing there.

"Loki, you scared me," Dianne said, a hand clutching at her chest.

"My apologies," Loki said. He was wearing his Asgardian garb, only he wasn't wearing his coat, "I was just curious as to why you were up at this hour."

"Rosemary," Dianne groaned, "She's been texting her boyfriend for the last three hours and her phone has been keeping Olyvia and I from falling asleep. Plus, I was really thirsty so I needed to get myself something to drink. How are you out here anyway? I thought the agents had you epoxied to a chair."

"Epoxy…what?"

"It's very strong glue."

"Ah. Well, I happen to be very good at illusions and my…guards still believe I'm in the room," Loki explained.

"Oh…or are you still there and this is an illusion?" Dianne asked.

"That is also very possible," Loki replied with a small smile.

"So how do I know it's really you then?"

Loki reached out and gently caressed Dianne's face, causing a shiver to run down her spine from the electric current his cool skin sent through her. She doubted an illusion could do that.

"I would never try to fool you Dianne," Loki whispered.

Staring into his emerald green eyes, Dianne believed him. There was just something in his eyes that made her trust him, she couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly, but she trusted him, she knew she could. They had been staring into each other's eyes for only a few seconds when they were pulled away from their thoughts by the sound of a door opening, Loki letting his hand drop back to his side.

"I should be going," Loki said, "I shall see you tomorrow."

"So they're allowing you to go?" Dianne asked hopefully.

Loki nodded, "They want me where all the others will be, and protecting your family seems to be their first priority."

"Don't exactly see what we need protection from."

"Thanos will be after you and your family now, after what happened," Loki said, "And with me still around…well, there isn't much chance he'd leave you alone."

"Right…that guy," Dianne muttered, "I guess I should go back to my room too, I've taken longer than the few minutes I said I'd be gone. Goodnight Loki."

Repeating her sentiments, Loki headed around the corner. Dianne went to follow, but when she poked her head around the corner, he was already gone. With a small sigh, she headed back to her room, a little worried about what the morrow may bring. If this Thanos guy tried ruining her grandfather's funeral, she would kill him herself.

* * *

By the time the girls were eating their breakfast the hotel provided, their mother was already ready to leave for their grandparent's place. Saying goodbye in the lobby, Brenda gave Dianne directions to be sure to check out before they left for the church. Returning to the room, the three girls jockeyed over the bathroom, all three going in and out constantly. They had taken quite some time, the whole Avenger team waiting outside in the hallway for them, all dressed in black suits, even Natasha because she wasn't fond of skirts, plus there was no telling if a fight might break out and she was not going to fight in a skirt, not if she had a choice.

"You three ready yet?" Natasha asked through the door after knocking for a third time.

Rosemary opened the door, "We're packing right now, just another minute."

"Well, if we're late, we can't blame me at least," Stark said.

"We're not going to be late," Clint said, "Not as early as we could be perhaps, but not late."

But just a minute later, as Rosemary said, the three girls exited the room. All looked solemn, since it was a funeral they were attending. Dianne wore a black mid-calf length black skirt, a black and sea blue floral blouse and dark blue jacket, Rosemary wearing a brown skirt and turquoise top, her blue plaid peacoat completing the ensemble, while Olyvia looked the most solemn of all, wearing a black knee length skirt that flared out just slightly at the knee, a black fitted blouse, and black and white plaid peacoat. All three girls had slightly red eyes, looking like they had been crying earlier that morning, which none of them would be surprised. Steve stared down in shock, and part horror, at Olyvia's shoes. Who could possibly walk in those things? She was practically his height now.

"Ready," Dianne said, repositioning her grip on her luggage to be sure she had a good hold on it.

Heading to the elevator, they all crowded inside, Olyvia nearly falling over when she was jostled around too much, but Steve shot out an arm to grab her by her own to steady her, since he was the closest. Blushing madly, Olyvia muttered a thanks while Rosemary cracked a smile, calling her sister a klutz, earning an elbow to her upper arm. Once checked out of the hotel and luggage placed in the back of the SUV, they climbed in, having to really squeeze in to fit everyone. The girls sat in the very front row of seats, Natasha driving, as usual, and Clint in the passenger seat while the others found themselves seats in the back, Steve letting out a frustrated sigh as Stark took a seat next to him.

Arriving at the church five minutes later, Olyvia nearly flew out of the SUV door when she recognized another vehicle in the parking lot, her sisters following her as they headed over. The others climbed out of the SUV and watched as the girls joined the other family standing outside of their own dark blue SUV. Olyvia went up to a girl who looked to be around her age and gave her a tight hug, before giving the others there one as well. So far, neither of their parents had arrived.

When Olyvia saw her cousin's vehicle, she made a beeline over to her second cousin, and one of her closest friends. Seeing the young woman with her dark brown hair in a pixie cut, she walked up to her and the two embraced.

"How are you doing Alexis?" Olyvia asked.

"Okay," Alexis replied, wiping some tears from her face, "You?"

Olyvia sighed heavily, "I've been better. Life has been…crazy."

Alexis nodded in agreement, but Olyvia knew she really had no idea how crazy it really was. When Dianne and Rosemary came over, they also said hello to Alexis, and once they moved to greet Alexis's parents, Olyvia and Alexis went back to talking. Glancing over Olyvia's shoulder, Alexis paused in their conversation.

"Who are they?" Alexis asked, pointing to the Harris's escort.

Olyvia turned her head to check to be sure that was what Alexis was asking about before turning back to her cousin, "Uh…government agents? Sort of? One is…Tony Stark."

Alexis's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as her jaw dropped, "W-w-what? Why is he here?"

"Remember when I said life has been crazy? That's why."

Alexis scanned over the team again, "Who is the tall blond guy? With the short hair."

Olyvia blushed, "That's Steve."

"He's…hot," Alexis said with a giggle.

"Yeah," Olyvia said with a sigh.

"Sounds like someone has a crush."

"Not like it'll go anywhere, I could never really actually have a conversation with him," Olyvia said, "I can't talk to guys, not ones I like. My tongue refuses to cooperate."

Alexis patted Olyvia on her shoulder, having to reach up a little to actually reach it, "If it's meant to be though, it'll happen."

Olyvia couldn't help but snort, "Yeah, only if he's as inept with socializing with the opposite sex as I am, we can both be awkward together."

Alexis shrugged, "Well, you never know."

After standing outside chatting for nearly ten minutes, the whole family made their way inside the church building, just standing around in the lobby area, Clint and Natasha standing by the door, looking very much like professional bodyguards. Olyvia and Alexis stuck close to each other, Alexis taking her 18 month old daughter from her father once the little girl wanted mommy, and Rosemary sort of floated around to each family member again. Dianne didn't stray too far from Olyvia, but let her sister have her time with Alexis. The two had grown up together, Olyvia only being two days older than her, they seemed to have taken that closeness in their age and decided they were meant to be best friends, and best friends they were indeed. Dianne was pretty sure that Alexis was the only person outside of their immediate family that knew about their unique abilities, not including S.H.I.E.L.D now, since they only recently found out them. As Dianne was pondering over her own thoughts, Loki moved to stand beside her.

"It is far too quiet," Loki said, barely above a whisper himself.

"We're in a church, a religious building, do you really expect things to be loud?" Dianne asked.

"Not loud, but not so…silent," Loki replied, "I feel there should be something to break up the monotony so it doesn't feel so…"

"So what?"

"Dead," Loki finished, sounding like he rather use a different word, given the situation.

"Well, once my parents get here and we have the family meeting or whatever, Olyvia will be playing some prelude music, so that'll add something to break up the monotony."

Loki merely nodded, and the two fell into silence. He could feel the other's gaze on him, watching him like a hawk. If he made one wrong move, one thing to make them think he was trying to run, or fight back, or manipulate, they wouldn't hesitate to end him, or at least try to, right then and there. He needed to tread lightly even more than he had been today so Dianne and her family could see off her grandfather in peace.

After a few minutes of standing there, the doors opened and a coffin was wheeled in past them and down the hall into another room. Rosemary burst into tears seeing it, and ran into Olyvia's arms, who held her consolingly, smoothing down her long locks. Dianne dropped her head as she too fought back tears. In an effort to console her, Loki wrapped his hand around hers, giving it just the slightest squeeze, letting her know he was there for her. Dianne looked up at him with a sad smile, before closing her hand around his. She was glad to have him there.

Not long after, Brenda and Allen arrived with the grandmother in tow, heading into the room the coffin was brought to for a family viewing as well as having a little meeting. Rosemary couldn't bring herself to go in to look at her grandfather, but they were asked to be there for the meeting, so Olyvia held her sister close to her side to block her view of the coffin as they went in and sat down in the far back of the room. Dianne reluctantly left Loki's side to attend, and Thor went to stand beside his brother once she had gone.

"She is a beautiful woman, I see why you like her," Thor said.

"That's not why—," Loki then caught himself, even though it was too late, "I don't like her. She's a mortal."

"I can see you have changed brother," Thor went on to say, "And for the better, and due to my own experience, I know it is because of her."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Loki said tersely, turning his head away from his brother.

"Do I not?"

"No, you don't."

Thor was the last person in all nine realms that Loki wanted to confess that he harbored feelings for the mortal woman, or that he had gone soft because of her. How was it these mortals had the capability of doing such? First that Jane woman to his brother, and now Dianne for him. He wouldn't change a thing though now, he was glad to have met Dianne, she truly was a unique creature.

After a half hour of waiting for the family, more friends arriving at the church during that time, they moved from the room into the Chapel where the service was to be held. Once they were all inside the large room, the others then made their way in, all but Clint and Natasha sitting down in the second row, right behind where the family would be sitting. The two agents were going to stay by the chapel doors. On the coffin now placed directly in front of the raised podium, was a few items, one being an old picture of who they guessed was the grandfather, and a woman beside him. Steve had to do a double take at the photo because the woman looked extremely similar to Peggy, but turned out she wasn't. Her features were softer than Peggy's, but the three girls all looked rather similar to her, Dianne more so than the others, mostly due to her dark hair. Olyvia and Rosemary probably got their stronger facial bone structure from either their grandfather, or on the mother's side of the gene pool.

When Stark saw the photo as they took their seats, he wasted no time in commenting on it.

"Oh wow, now she's hot."

"Stark, keep your indecent comments to yourself," Steve snapped.

"What, you don't find women attractive?" Stark rebutted, "That would explain a lot."

Steve's face flushed red at the accusation, knowing full well what Stark meant by it, "I-I just keep my thoughts to myself. There is no need to vocalize them."

"Not unless you actually want the girl to know you like them," Stark said, with a motion of his head toward Olyvia who was now making her way up onto the stage to the piano.

"Just be quiet for the services will you?" Steve practically begged.

"What's your opinion on the woman in the picture?" Stark asked, going back a subject.

With a frustrated sigh, Steve figured if he gave some answer it might shut Stark up for a few minutes.

"She is beautiful, yes," Steve said, "Dianne actually looks a lot like her."

"Oh, so was I wrong about who you were crushing on?" Stark asked with a sly smile.

Steve could feel his ears heating up he was blushing so madly, and as he whipped his head around to face Stark, could see Loki glaring daggers at him. He really shoved his foot into his mouth this time.

"Complimenting a woman about her looks is completely different than being uncouth about it," Steve said, "I am merely stating what I see, stop putting words into my mouth."

"So it's still the blond you have your eye on then," Stark stated.

"Stark, shut up," Steve growled, because her family could hear everything he was saying.

Stark had a very smug look on his face as he turned to face forward and Steve had to hold back whacking him on the head again. The guy deserved it though. Music then filled the air, and a few of their team leaned over to see that it was Olyvia at the piano who was causing it. It was very pretty music, and it was easy to tell Olyvia was good at playing the instrument.

More people arrived, and at eleven the services were started. Allen gave the eulogy, which was when Stark found out the woman in the picture was indeed the girls' grandmother, Olyvia played a beautiful musical number, bringing tears to people's eyes, and then family and friends went up to say a few things about the grandfather. Steve had the impression he was an honorable, hardworking man, with a mischievous, playful side. Perhaps that's where all three girls got it then, they all seemed to be a bit lighthearted themselves, Olyvia and Rosemary more so.

After the services, it was then onward to the cemetery where the man would be buried, the S.H.I.E.L.D agents not bothering having someone ride with the Harris family this time. It was about a twenty minute drive to the cemetery, in the small town the grandparents had lived in for over sixty years, and the get together there was very brief before the family was invited to a friend's house where they were hosting a luncheon for them. Though they could leave, most of the family members stuck around to chat with one another for a while. Dianne began walking around the cemetery, to have some time to herself, since she was starting to have social overload from the mass amount of family and friends coming up and giving their condolences, in the way of a hug most of the time and not being a touchy-feely person, she wanted to get away from them, even if for just a few minutes. She hadn't been walking long when she realized she wasn't alone any longer. Pausing, she turned to verify her suspicions.

"Hello again Loki," she said, "You know, you don't have to sneak up on me all the time, you can announce your presence."

"I wasn't sure if you wanted my company," Loki said, moving to walk beside her.

"I doubt I could ever not want your company," Dianne said, "Well…maybe if I was in a particularly foul mood, then perhaps not, but otherwise, I like having you around."

"You seem to be the only one with that opinion," Loki said, "Though the others may be the wiser for keeping their distance from me. I'm not safe."

"Only because you have a crazy strong psychopath after you."

Loki gave her a look saying that wasn't what he meant.

"Loki, I know you're capable of doing dangerous things, but I don't think _you_ are dangerous," Dianne explained, "At least not towards me. In fact, you seem to be more concerned for me."

"It's because I don't want to be the cause of any harm that might come to you," Loki said, "You're just a mortal, you can be hurt easily."

"I'm not your average mortal though, remember?" Dianne rebutted, "I can fly and blow things up."

"How did you do that anyway?" Loki asked.

"I'm sure it'll be explained once we are at S.H.I.E.L.D base in a secured room," Dianne replied, "Fury at least wanted to wait until then to give away all our secrets."

"I still don't understand why you're doing all this," Loki said.

Dianne paused so she could turn to face Loki, who stopped as well, "Loki…you're a friend, and in some trouble, so I want to help."

"Because I'm…a friend," Loki said quietly.

Dianne could feel her face start to grow warm. It was actually because she liked him more than a friend, but there was no way she would _ever_ have the guts to tell him that.

"What, you think I shouldn't consider you a friend now?" Dianne asked.

"Well…it's just sort of…odd I guess, for me to actually consider someone as a friend," Loki said, "I've always kept to mostly to myself."

"Ditto," Dianne muttered, "With the keeping to oneself."

"It's…nice though," Loki said, "To have a friend."

Dianne smiled, "It is."

She resumed her slow pace along the dirt roadway that looped around the cemetery. Glancing down at her black ballet flats, she couldn't help but think what a hell of a time Olyvia was having walking around on those silly pumps of hers that she insisted on wearing today. Well, at least the ground would be aerated due to all the holes her heels would be punching into them.

"Are you alright Dianne?" Loki asked.

Dianne lifted her head to look up at Loki, "Yeah…I'm alright. I just really miss my grandpa. I know he was old, but he was the kind of guy you thought could live forever, if it were possible. I'm surprised I'm saying this, but I'm actually going to miss him trying to put cayenne pepper and raisins into my oatmeal."

Loki's expression was one of confusion and disgust, "What?"

"My grandpa would put all sorts of…stuff in his oatmeal at breakfast," Dianne explained, "Now, I could see sugar, cinnamon and raisins being put in, but then he added something called flax seed, and then what really gets all of us, is the cayenne pepper he'd put in."

"That…sounds disgusting," Loki said, "Doesn't even sound like something Volstagg would eat."

"Who?"

"One of Thor's friends," Loki replied.

"Ah…well, it is disgusting," Dianne said, "I was unfortunate enough to have him get my bowl with the pepper a few times, and I had to eat it."

"I'm sorry?" Loki said uncertainly.

Dianne laughed, "You sound so sincere."

"Let me try again," Loki said, pulling Dianne to a stop as he did, and turned her to face him, "I am sorry that you were forced to eat absolutely horrible food growing up as a child."

Dianne couldn't help but laugh again, coming out almost as a snort at first, "I don't know how you managed to keep a straight face during that whole thing."

"It's a talent," Loki replied, as he began to walk again.

Moving to walk beside him once more, the two continued around the cemetery in silence. Loki kept mulling over what she had said earlier, about him being a friend. He was glad she considered him one, but there was also a part of him that was a little disappointed that she did. He liked her more than a friend already, even though he only knew her for almost three weeks now and she was different than him. That didn't seem to bother Thor though, with Jane, and because of Odin, Loki _was_ an Asgardian, instead of a Frost Giant. It was only when he came into contact with one of them or their Casket that he began to revert to his original form. So at the moment, he really wasn't all that different from her. He was surprised though, how much he was bothered by the fact she only considered him a friend, to the point where he couldn't stand it anymore. He had to say _something_. Stopping in his tracks, he reached out and grabbed Dianne's hand to halt her advancement.

"Something wrong Loki?" Dianne asked.

"Just something that has been bothering me," Loki replied.

Dianne's brow furrowed in worry, "What is it?"

Lifting his gaze, Loki's emerald green eyes locked with Dianne's jade ones, "What you said earlier…about me being a friend."

"What about it?" Dianne asked, "I mean…I don't exactly see what else there could be to talk about it."

Loki took in a deep breath, "It's just…I like you more than that."

Dianne's eyes widened as her heart leapt into her throat. Did she honestly just hear those words from his mouth?

"Loki I—."

She didn't get the chance to reply before Loki pulled her in and silenced her with his lips. Knees buckling, Dianne nearly lost her balance before she grabbed onto his forearms to hold herself up. Her whole body felt like it was buzzing as the butterflies burst from her stomach. Loki kissing her was a sensation unlike any other she had felt before, but she was already becoming quickly addicted to it.

Dianne was nearly out of breath when he broke away, his hands still cupping her face. She was still speechless, unsure of what to say, or even what to think.

"I really like you Dianne," Loki whispered, "More than I thought possible. And that is why I'm so worried about you. I don't want you getting hurt, because of me."

Reaching up, Dianne pulled Loki's hands away from her face, and held them as she let them fall between them.

"Loki, the reason I'm doing what I'm doing, is because I like you too."

* * *

"I think something's wrong with her," Olyvia muttered to her little sister as they ate their lunch provided to the family that afternoon, watching her older sister as she sat at the table across from them.

"I am in complete agreement," Rosemary replied, not bothering to lower her voice at all, "I can't quite put my finger on what though."

"She has…a dreamy look on her face," Olyvia said, "Like she's up in the clouds. I've never seen that look on her face before. It's creepy me out Rosemary."

Rosemary nodded in agreement, "It is creepy…why do you think she's acting this way?"

Olyvia's eyes slid over to Loki, whom Dianne was sitting next to, and glared, "I have a feeling I do know why. Him."

Rosemary's mouth formed into an "o" as she stabbed her salad with her fork, before shoving it into her mouth. She thought over something for a few moments as she chewed her bite, a look of confusion crossing her features.

"What do you think happened to cause her to be…up in the clouds?" Rosemary asked.

Olyvia paled, stopping mid-chew of the bite she had in her mouth before swallowing with a grim expression, "I don't want to think about that."

Rosemary just shrugged, not understanding why her sister didn't want to. She said she was curious. Olyvia continued to glare at Loki. If the reason was because he kissed her or something, Olyvia was going to cry. If her little sister, _and_ her anti-social sister were kissed before her, it would be a sad, sad world indeed. Olyvia wasn't exactly a social butterfly, but she was definitely more social than Dianne.

"I'm getting dessert," Olyvia said as she stood, "Want to come with?"

Rosemary ate the last two bites of her salad before getting up and following her sister to the kitchen. Olyvia couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Clint and Natasha, who were yet again standing guard at the front door. It looked as if they had a personal guard following them around, but then again…they sort of did.

"You ready to become one of them?" Rosemary asked Olyvia.

"Hmm?" Olyvia mumbled questioningly, since she had a spoon stuck in her mouth.

Rosemary motioned over to Clint and Natasha, and Olyvia mumbled again in acknowledgement, before pulling out the spoon and giving a small laugh.

"I doubt we'll ever get to that point," Olyvia said, "We're all very inexperienced in any sort of fighting while they have been trained for years."

"I wouldn't say we're inexperienced in _any_ sort of fighting," Rosemary said, "You're very good at smashing."

Rosemary didn't realize she said something wrong, since she wasn't looking at her sister while she gave her the death glare, before she was hip-checked back into the living room. She emitted a small squeak as she stumbled across the room, before turning back around and glaring back at her sister.

"Oh come on, you know why I did that," Olyvia said, "And you deserved it."

Rosemary rolled her eyes, "Whatever. I will still call you she-hulk."

Olyvia growled menacingly at Rosemary, only to jump when Stark suddenly appeared.

"What about a she-hulk?" he asked.

Rosemary pointed at Olyvia, who then slapped her hand away.

"I am _not,_ so stop saying it!" Olyvia hissed.

"You don't…actually turn into anything do you?" Stark asked.

Olyvia sighed in frustration, "No, I do not."

"But you have yet to see what she can do when she's pissed," Rosemary said, "Or just determined."

"I'm sure he'll get an example real soon if you keep talking," Olyvia threatened.

Rosemary snapped her mouth shut and scurried back into the dining room. Finally getting herself a piece of strawberry shortcake, Olyvia went to follow when Stark stopped her with a question.

"So how strong are you?"

"Um…never actually determined an exact weight I can lift," Olyvia replied.

"Then what's the heaviest object you've lifted?"

Olyvia bit her lower lip as she thought over it, "Probably my grandfather's tractor."

"Wow," Stark said breathlessly.

"But I am sure you'll get to find out when Fury tests us," Olyvia said, turning to leave.

"He's going to test you?"

Olyvia paused, "Won't he? I mean, he also has to train us so that sort of involves testing out what we can do…right?"

"Well…this will be fun to watch," Stark said, flashing Olyvia a smile as he headed back into the dining room as well.

With an inward groan, Olyvia slumped over slightly. Things were all going to go to hell wherever they were going, wasn't it?

* * *

For the trip home, Olyvia found it mighty suspicious that Dianne wanted to ride with their escort. Her mother argued only a little, saying that this would be the last time they would be together for a long while, but eventually caved as long as it was alright with the others, who didn't really care whether she rode along with or not. Steve was still to ride with the remainder of the Harris family, this time having more room in the vehicle for him. With Dianne's absence though, there was a lot of switching around done. Rosemary was still to sit in the back, but Brenda was getting tired so she wanted Olyvia to drive. Not wanting Steve to feel too uncomfortable, Brenda insisted he sit in the passenger seat while she sat in the back.

"We're all going to die," Rosemary wailed dramatically as Brenda handed Olyvia the car keys.

"Oh come on, I know how to drive," Olyvia said, "Dianne is the crazy driver."

"You rolled the Trooper though," Rosemary pointed out, "Dianne only backed up into a tree."

"_That_ wasn't my fault!" Olyvia hissed, "And you know it."

Rosemary held up her hands in surrender before scurrying away and climbing into the backseat. Making sure all items were accounted for, Olyvia switched out her pumps for her flats so she could drive easier for the three hour trip back. She could drive for a while with pumps, but three hours, not really.

The first thing Olyvia did when she got in was turn on the window lock so Rosemary couldn't roll down her window, which she immediately began complaining about when they pulled out on the road so Olyvia had to turn it back off when her mother told her to. Once on the highway home, Brenda made herself comfortable in the back and tried her best to nap. Rosemary plugged herself into her MP3 player, already bored of the view, which she had seen over hundreds of times in her lifetime. It was unnaturally quiet in the vehicle, compared to the trip there, and Steve found it was sort of bugging him.

"So your grandfather was in World War II?" Steve asked, figuring he might as well ask about something he knew about.

"Huh?" Olyvia said at first before realizing that Steve was indeed talking to her, "Oh, yeah. That's where he met my grandma. He was a medic, and she was a nurse."

"So he never saw any of the action."

"Nope. Though he saw the result of those who did," Olyvia replied, "So I doubt you ever ran across him. I'm sure he heard about you though. Who hasn't heard of Captain America?"

Steve couldn't help but blush, "Yeah…"

"I'm sure my grandpa would have been honored that you went to his funeral," Olyvia said, "An American hero, someone who fought bravely for his country."

"I was just doing what needed to be done," Steve said, "I wasn't doing it for fame."

"Ah, humble as well," Olyvia said, "Refreshing to see nowadays, when compared to someone like Tony Stark."

Steve groaned and Olyvia burst into laughter.

"I can tell you two are the best of friends," Olyvia said sarcastically.

"Tell me, who is the most obnoxious person you know?"

"She's sitting behind me," Olyvia replied blandly.

"Times that by…ten thousand."

"Wow…I'm surprised you haven't killed him yet then."

"I've come close a few times," Steve admitted, "Though…a few of those times were accidental."

Such as when the helicarrier engine had died and Stark went to manually restart it and Steve couldn't quite get to the switch he needed to turn in time.

"You two must get along a little at least," Olyvia said, "Or else you wouldn't work together."

"We didn't really in the beginning," Steve said, "But…we do put aside our differences to get a job done. There are even times…split seconds, where he is actually tolerable."

Olyvia smiled at the comment, but said nothing else, the two falling into silence. Glancing in the rearview mirror, Olyvia could see Rosemary bobbing her head along to the music and mouthing the words. Her mother looked about ready to fall asleep. She had a tiring day today, having to deal with her grandma most of the time, to give her dad a break. Tears sprung to her eyes recalling what issue they had to deal with the most today, and that was her grandma asking where Kenny was, her husband. The look on her grandmother's face when they had to retell her that he had died just crushed her heart, seeing her heart break over, and over.

"Olyvia…are you alright?"

Olyvia didn't realize the tears were noticeable on her cheeks, and hastily wiped them away, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just…it's been a hard day."

"I can imagine," Steve said quietly.

"Some might find it odd me grieving so much over my grandfather, because he was ninety-six years old, living longer than a lot of other people, but we were all really close to him" Olyvia continued on, "We were practically raised at his house we visited so often."

"I don't find it odd," Steve said, "It's only natural when you lose someone you care about."

He still grieved over the fact that he lost Peggy because nearly seventy years now separated them. Thinking of that brought something else up in his mind that he hadn't really thought of much before.

"You know…technically I'm ninety-four," Steve said.

Olyvia gave him a sidelong glance with a look that was a mix of amusement and almost horror, "Well…you look very, very good for your age, Captain."

"I would prefer if you'd call me Steve."

"Then Steve it is."

The two continued to chat about whatever came to their mind, and the time almost seemed to fly by. Steve really enjoyed speaking with Olyvia, they got along rather well, and he found himself becoming really comfortable around her, unlike any other time he spoke with a woman. He wasn't exactly sure what the future may bring between the two of them, but they could at least be really good friends, that he could see happening.

* * *

**This chapter was hard for me to write mainly because of all the memories it brought up, but it's done and I can put away the box of kleenex. Next chapter they _finally_ arrive at the helicarrier. Sometimes I think I'm taking too long with this story.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ermagerd! I haven't had such feedback on any of my other stories, this is AWESOME! I'm also getting a little bit of a big head. But you guys are awesome, I love you guys.  
**

**RipplesofAqua: I felt sorry for Steve for putting him in the car with the girls and suffer through it. He survived though, and that's the good thing.**

**harrylee94: Yes, I know. FINALLY! And alas, I shall not include Loki's trip home, but I will say it was better than the trip there, since he had Dia with him this time. He had a shoulder to cry on while he wallowed in his grief of being stuck with his brother. I have the impression Thor talks a lot. And loudly.**

**alleycat2834: Yay! I'm different! Of course, that's what I was hoping I'd achieve. **

**FrancyPantsFrance: You are most welcome. :) Of course, the nagging creative voice in my head wouldn't let me just shove this idea in the back of my mind and forced me to write it down. Along with thousands of other ideas, but I'm trying to keep them quiet while I work on this one.**

**Arazel Capuchin: Awww, thank you! And I am trying to add more Loki. I realized I uh…sort of…forgot about him in later chapters I'm writing and had to go back and add some things. I sorry! I try harder.**

* * *

**CHAPTER NINE**

Arriving back at their home, the girls instantly began repacking everything they had boxed up into one of the two SUV's they would be taking to the city to then take a quinjet back to base, since Fury had already left with the quinjet he came on. With the two vehicles this time, they wouldn't be so crowded, especially with the girls bringing along their pets, Rosemary demanding she got to bring her cat, T.C, along as well. It was no surprise that Dianne wanted to ride in the same vehicle as Loki, and since he needed the more amount of agents keeping an eye on him, that meant Olyvia and Rosemary would have to ride in the other with the remainder of agents, which turned out to be Clint and Steve. With another tearful, long goodbye to their mother, they got into their designated SUV and were off, not knowing when, or if, they would return.

After the hour drive, and items were then packed onto the quinjet waiting for them, everyone found their seats, Dianne sitting next to Loki of course, and buckled in as the back doors closed and the jet started up. Olyvia went ahead and let her cat out of her cage to sit on her lap, since she was feeling lazy and laid back at the moment, and Olyvia could feel the vibration of the cat's chest against her leg as she began purring. Dianne had to leave Nelly in her cat carrier, because she would freak out and hide and never be found again, and Rosemary was to keep her cat in her cage since she was so old and decrepit she would most likely hurt herself if she ran into anything.

"What is that thing?" Stark asked, pointing to the cat on Olyvia's lap.

Olyvia frowned, "She's not a thing, she's a cat, and her name is Whisper, thank you very much."

Stark just rolled his eyes, when he then caught sight of Rosemary's cat, T.C, lying on her side in her cage and staring at him with one eye open. It was very disturbing.

"Uh, Rosemary could you…make your…_cat_ stop doing that?" Stark asked.

"Stop what?" Rosemary asked in confusion.

"That," Stark replied, pointing at the cat's face.

Rosemary looked down at her cat to see what he was talking about, "Oh, she's blind in that eye, she doesn't know it's open."

"Right…," Stark muttered, "That's what she wants you to think."

Olyvia groaned, tired of Stark's antics, and leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes as she absentmindedly petted her cat.

"How long until we reach this 'base' of yours?" Olyvia asked no one in particular, just whoever was nearby and could hear her question.

"It should only be a few hours," Steve replied, who had taken a seat next to her, "It will probably be near midnight by the time we arrive, so you will be taken straight to your rooms."

"Good, I'm ready to go to bed right now," Olyvia said with a sigh of relief.

She tried napping for most of the flight, but her seat was too uncomfortable, so she ended up opening her eyes more than not and look around to see what was going on, mainly glancing over to her sisters to see how they were doing. Rosemary was listening to her music, and almost every time Olyvia glanced over to Dianne, she was trying to calm down Nelly, but there were a few times she was talking with Loki, and Olyvia would have sworn she saw they were holding hands, for just the briefest moment, as if worried they would be caught.

They were nearing the end of their flight when Olyvia was starting to get particularly lethargic, as was Rosemary and Dianne, their heads all lolling about before they snapped themselves back to attention. Olyvia was starting to drift off when the sudden loss of warmth on her lap snapped her back to reality. Jolting upright, she saw Whisper chasing a small piece of…something that was skittering across the floor, which went right by Stark's feet, and he quickly pulled them out of the way to avoid the cat touching him.

"Will you contain your…monster?" Stark asked.

"She's fine, just leave her be," Olyvia replied, "Though if she tries eating whatever she's chasing, take it away from her."

"Um…Olyvia, I think that's what she's trying to do," Dianne said.

Olyvia leapt up from her seat and chased down her cat to the rear corner of the quinjet and pulled out a small rubber piece from her mouth before picking her up and taking her back to her cat carrier, sticking her back in it. She knew it couldn't be much longer before they arrived at their destination so she may as well put her away. But then she started yowling.

"You named her what again?" Stark asked.

"I named her before her meow fully developed," Olyvia rebutted, "And I blame that one."

She pointed over to Nelly, who had been yowling the first half hour of the ride before going silent, probably because she was having a little cat heart attack.

"Why did Fury even allow you to bring those…those…things?"

"Because he wanted our help," Olyvia replied, "Do you have any other questions?"

"I have a lot, but now isn't quite the time to ask them," Stark replied.

"Then if you could please stop talking, I would appreciate it," Olyvia said, leaning back in her seat again and closing her eyes, "I have a headache."

Steve smiled slightly at that comment. He wouldn't be surprised if Stark was the cause of her headache, in fact, he was pretty sure it was.

Olyvia didn't get to nap much longer though, due to hitting some turbulence as the pilots brought the quinjet down to land. It was a bit of a bumpy ride down, but the quinjet finally came to a halt, and rather abruptly as well, and the three girls slowly got up, moving as if they were zombies they were so out of it.

"The crew will bring your items inside," Natasha said to the three girls, though she doubted any of them heard her, "You can sort through them tomorrow, just take what you need for tonight with you."

Giving an affirmative grunt to signify they heard her, Natasha then asked the girls to follow her, which they did, moving at a sluggishly slow pace. Natasha explained a little about where they were, mainly telling them that what they were on was called the helicarrier, but the girls were all too tired to really pay too much attention, which Natasha could tell so she didn't bother telling them much. They were all given rooms in the same area, where all the rooms were and each one numbered so they wouldn't forget which one was theirs, and in close proximity to the remainder of the team they would be trained to become a part of. They were told the rooms were all the same, except for a few minor discrepancies perhaps, so it didn't matter much on which room they chose. They were too tired to care anyway and headed into a room the other two didn't go to. Once Dianne had her door shut, she set down the cat carrier and let Nelly loose. The cat bolted out of the cage and under the bed, where Dianne knew she would first head to. Putting out the two dishes for her, and then placing the cat litter box in a corner, she then kicked off her shoes and sluggishly changed into her pajamas and crawled under the covers. She tossed and turned in the bed, unable to get comfortable since it wasn't her bed. With a resigned sigh, she flopped over onto her back and stared up at the blank white ceiling. This was going to be a long, long, _long_ night.

* * *

Dianne finally fell asleep once exhaustion finally took over, and ended up sleeping in late, though she wasn't the only one. Not bothering to change out of her pajamas, she quickly slipped out her door to be sure Nelly didn't run out, and shuffled over to Olyvia's room, not bothering to knock because she knew that if her sister was in there, and still asleep, she wouldn't wake up. Shutting the door behind her, she moved over to the bed, to find that sure enough, Olyvia was dead asleep, buried deep under the covers, only her face and mess of hair sticking out from underneath, and Whisper sleeping on the pillow next to her head, and on her hair. With a groan Dianne flopped down onto Olyvia's bed.

"You awake yet Livy?"

When she received no verbal answer from her, she got her answer. Dianne wasn't going to bother waking her though, knowing she would only be a huge grouch all day. So laying on the bed, it was a few minutes later when she heard the door open.

"There you are," Dianne heard Rosemary rasp, sounding like she just woke up as well.

"I came in to see if Livy was up," Dianne muttered, "She isn't."  
"I can see that," Rosemary yawned, "How long have you been trying to wake her?"  
"I haven't. You know she'll be a grumpy grizzly bear if I do."

Rosemary flopped down onto her stomach on the bed as well, on the other side of Olyvia, where there was the slightest bit of room on the queen sized bed.

"So are we just going to wait here then?" Rosemary asked.

"Yep."

"She might freak out a little seeing us both here."

Dianne shrugged, "Eh, I doubt it."

After another fifteen minutes of waiting, Dianne wondered if she would ever wake up when Whisper began moving, meowing loudly and walking on Olyvia's face. With a disgruntled groan, Olyvia's hand emerged from under the blanket and shoved Whisper off. As she began to move around, she felt that there were two extra bodies on her bed so sitting up she squinted through the sleep in her eyes at her sisters. She said something that was either, "What are you two doing in my room?" or "Wanna sing with a broom?" Knowing Olyvia, if she was still half asleep, it could have been either one. When Rosemary lifted her head to look up at her sister, she let out a yelp of surprise as she gave a little jump, which resulted in her falling off the bed. Dianne, however, just burst into a fit of giggles.

"How bad is it?" Olyvia asked lethargically as she grabbed her pillow to cover her hair.

"Like you went to bed with it wet," Dianne snickered, "It's fluffing out all over the place."

"Well yours doesn't look any better," Olyvia grumbled before flopping down on her back, "What time is it?"

Dianne looked around the room for a clock before finding one up on the wall, and her eyes went wide when she saw the time herself.

"Noon."

"Oh wow," Olyvia muttered, pushing herself back up and out from under the covers, "Need to get ready."

As she sifted through her suitcase, that was the other two sister's clue to vacate the room so Olyvia could have her privacy, which they did, heading back to their own rooms to change. Since they were on the east coast, the weather was considerably cooler than back west, so Olyvia chose a pair of jeans to wear along with a long sleeved turquoise top. Whisper attacked her shoelaces as she put on her tennis shoes, so it took a little longer to detach the cat from her shoe before she could finish getting ready. After brushing out her hair and pulling it back in a ponytail, she poked her head out into the hallway. Rosemary was standing outside her room, having just thrown on a pair of jeans, light blue t-shirt and a sea green sweater, waiting for the other two to finish. So standing outside her own doorway, Olyvia waited as well for Dianne. She came out a few minutes later, dressed in tan cargo pants and a green pull over sweater, her usual colors, her hair pulled back in a braid.

"So where do we go?" Rosemary asked as the three all looked at each other.

"I don't know," Olyvia replied.

"Well…we came from that direction last night," Dianne said, pointing down the hall to her right, "So…just walk that way until someone points us in the right direction?"

Olyvia shrugged, "I guess that'll work."

So walking together they headed down the hall, slowing to a stop once they reached an intersection.

"Now which way, oh fearless leader?" Olyvia asked.

"You figure it out this time, I was half asleep on our way here," Dianne rebutted.

With a frustrated sigh, Olyvia closed her eyes and began concentrating, her brow starting to furrow as it became a little more difficult.

"Figured it out yet?" Rosemary asked.

"Shush, I'm trying to concentrate here," Olyvia scolded.

After another minute of standing there Olyvia let out another frustrated sigh, "I can't figure it out, let's just go to the right again."

"There you are," the three heard behind them, startling them a bit.

Whirling around they found Natasha heading toward them, "I came to check up on you again. Glad to see you're finally awake. I hope you were able to get your rest."

"For the most part," Dianne said.

"If you would just follow me, you can finish bringing your belongings to your room," Natasha said, walking past them and heading to the right.

"See, to the right, I was right," Olyvia said.

"You guessed, you were lucky," Dianne rebutted, "Speaking of which though, Natasha, any chance we might be given a map to help navigate this thing?"

"It isn't too complicated to find your way around, but I can see what I can find for you," Natasha said, "Since you won't have me or another agent to escort you wherever whenever."

Dianne thanked her, to which Natasha said nothing in reply. They figured she was a woman of few words anyway so it didn't bug Dianne too much. Reaching a large room, the remainder of their things were there, and Olyvia loaded up her arms with as much as she could hold to help her sisters, and then attempted to make their way back to the room without Natasha's aide. She only had to give them tips a few times, but other than that, they were quickly learning how to reach their rooms, and what markers to look for to know they were going in the right direction. Since it was lunchtime, and the girls hadn't had food in the past sixteen hours or so, Natasha had them drop off their belongings before taking them to the food court in the helicarrier. It very much reminded them of a cafeteria, with how everything was set up, but the look of it was much more…technological and professional, than an elementary or high school setting. As they were getting their food, Stark walked over to Natasha.

"So how are the newbie's doing?" Stark asked before taking a bite of the sandwich he had in his hand.

"Just fine," Natasha replied, "A little nervous, but that's expected. Fury speak to you yet?"

"I was trying to avoid him, but he always manages to find me," Stark replied, "How does he do that anyway, with just one eye?"

"So you know I will be taking the girls to your lab after they eat then?" Natasha asked with a small smile tugging at her lips.

"Yes, I do know that."

"Then you better finish eating and be there ready for them."

Stark nodded, taking another bite as he headed out of the food court with his food. Natasha waited patiently by the doors for the girls to finish, and once they were, asked them to follow her, yet again. Bringing them into a lab room, the girls were very hesitant to enter, especially with Stark and Bruce in there.

"What's going on?" Olyvia asked.

"We're just going to be running a few tests is all," Stark replied, "We just need you to give a sample of your blood, and you can go on your way."

The girls cautiously proceeded further in the room, jumping when they heard a voice come out of nowhere.

"The computer is ready to run the analysis sir."

"Who said that?" Dianne asked, whipping her head around as she stared up at the ceiling with wide eyes.

Rosemary and Olyvia then burst into laughter, falling down onto the floor they were laughing so hard.

"I am referred to as JARVIS ma'am," Jarvis replied.

"You weren't supposed to reply," Dianne said, just giving the whole room a glance.

"Ignore the voice, it'll go away," Olyvia said in a quiet whisper.

Rosemary snickered, and Stark and Natasha shared a confused glance, somewhat worried for their new recruits' sanity. Rosemary and Olyvia picked themselves off the floor and continued further into the room behind Dianne, a smile still on their faces. They understood the reference.

Bruce had Dianne take a seat in one of the chairs, extending the right arm of the chair for her to rest her forearm on while he took her blood. Rosemary squirmed just watching, hiding her face in Olyvia's shoulder as Bruce took Dianne's blood, who didn't flinch at all. Next was Olyvia, who stared at the opposite wall trying not to think about the needle the doctor was sticking into her arm. Once she was done, Rosemary took a little coercing to get into the seat, but she eventually did, Olyvia having to hold her hand and distract her by talking with her while Bruce did his job.

"You three are free to leave now," Bruce said to them, seeing they all looked rather antsy to leave.

They all looked over to Natasha though as they sidled toward the door, for her to excuse them as well because she was the one escorting them around the carrier, which they guessed was a direct order from Fury.

"You may go," Natasha said, "Fury wants everyone in the conference room in three hours though, so Stark, be there."

"Why?"

"If you want to know what's going on here," Natasha said, secretly motioning to the girls so they wouldn't see what she was doing, "You'll be there, and on time."

Now that got Stark a little excited, because he wanted to know what was up with these girls, "Got it. I'll be there."

With a nod, the three girls scurried out of the lab, and in the general direction of their rooms. It took them about twenty minutes, but they finally found them. They were going to spend the next few hours unpacking, making themselves at home. Olyvia first dug out her laptop and speakers so she could listen to her music. The S.H.I.E.L.D agents had taken their phones, so they couldn't try contacting the "outside world" without expressed permission, so she couldn't use that to listen to her tunes. Turning up the volume to a comfortable level, she got to work, unable to keep herself from putting a little dance into her step. It hadn't even been twenty seconds since she turned on the music that Dianne poked her head into her room.

"Music?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Olyvia asked

"I didn't even think about bringing speakers," Dianne pouted, "Can I help you unpack? Then we move over to my room and you help me?"

Olyvia shrugged, "Sure…though I'm not sure how much help you could be, since you don't know where I want things."

Dianne didn't seem to hear her though, grabbing a box and whipping out her pocket knife to open it. Well, it didn't really matter much anyway where things went, she wouldn't be here too long. At least…that's what she hoped.

They first started on Olyvia's box of shoes, Dianne asking why the hell she brought so many, more specifically, her black pumps.

"I loves the pumps," Olyvia said, snatching the heels from her sister and clutching them possessively to her chest.

"When are you ever going to wear them?" Dianne asked incredulously.

Olyvia thought for a few moments before replying, "I don't know, but it never hurts to be prepared."

Dianne couldn't help but think, 'prepared for what?' It wasn't like they would be having any parties on the helicarrier. Plus, she was sure Olyvia would kill herself one day from wearing them and falling.

Next were the clothes, Dianne placing each item of clothing in the specified drawer Olyvia wanted them in, the two chatting and singing along to the songs that came up. When another song started, Olyvia couldn't help but laugh a little.

"This is your song, for Loki," Olyvia sniggered.

Dianne couldn't help but blush as the lyrics for Katy Perry's ET started, "Says who?"

"Says me," Olyvia said, "Come on, it's perfect!"

Dianne slugged her sister in the shoulder, who didn't even flinch from the impact. Dianne really didn't have much of an arm so she wasn't surprised.

"Shut up," she muttered, going back to placing more shirts in the shirt drawer. Her sister had _a lot_ of shirts.

"What is going on between the two of you anyway?" Olyvia asked, "You two seem…close."

Dianne smiled shyly as her cheeks flushed red once again, "Well…we are."

"Elaborate?"

"Um…he kissed me?" Dianne said uncertainly.

Olyvia's jaw dropped to the floor, as well as the pair of pants she had been refolding, "W-what?"

"You heard me right."

Olyvia let out a mournful wail as she threw herself onto the bed, "Life is cruel indeed!"

"Now what are you going on about?"

"Not only has my little sister had her first kiss before me, but so has my anti-social sister!" Olyvia wailed, "Never…ever…thought that would happen. I've actually had guys ask me out."

"You mean _a_ guy," Dianne pointed out, "Multiple times."

"Whatever," Olyvia grumbled, "My point is still the same. You hardly ever talked to guys. It's a sign, isn't it? I'm going to die alone, my only company my dozens of cats."

Dianne rolled her eyes, "Livy, you're only twenty-two, you still have time to find someone."

"Kristie was married by the time she was nineteen," Olyvia said, sliding off the bed, "We're already old maids compared to her."

"Livy, you're stressing out way too much over this," Dianne said, "It's not important right now. Right now we need to focus on staying alive."

Olyvia nodded, taking in a deep breath to calm her nerves, "You're right, I'm blowing this all out of proportion. Besides, if I'm meant to be with someone, it'll happen. If not…"

"Don't even think about it Livy."

"Right, not thinking," Olyvia said, picking up the pair of jeans she had dropped earlier.

"But you know…you and Steve seem to get along fairly well," Dianne couldn't help but put in.

"You said not to think about it! Now I'm thinking about it!" Olyvia wailed, curling up into a ball on the floor and throwing her arms over her head, "Don't go getting my hopes up."

"I thought you liked him though."

"I do, but…he is far too beautiful for me," Olyvia said, sitting back up straight, "He's just out of my league."

Dianne whacked Olyvia on the back of the head, making her squeak in surprise, "Don't talk like that. You're a good, fun person, any guy would be lucky to have you."

Olyvia just shrugged, "Like I said, if it's meant to happen, it'll happen."

Dianne shrugged as well, "Not without _some_ effort."

"Why are you trying to encourage me? You wouldn't have ever flirted with any guy because you were so scared. Where is all this coming from?"

"I'm just trying to help you," Dianne said, "Just because I couldn't do it doesn't mean I can't encourage you to."

"It just makes you a hypocrite."

Dianne shrugged again, "I can live with that."

They fell into silence, until a few songs later Dianne looked over to Olyvia with a smirk.

"Okay, if ET is my song, then Holding out for a Hero is yours, with your little crush on the American Hero, Captain America," Dianne said.

Now it was Olyvia who was blushing, "Shut up."

Dianne snickered, but said no more. She didn't like it when Olyvia teased her about having a crush on someone, so Dianne would stop. For now.

* * *

Olyvia used the clock in her room to adjust the time on her watch so she had the current time with her wherever she went, and once it was four thirty, the sisters, having finished settling into their rooms some time ago, decided it was time to start trying to find the conference room. They wanted to allow enough time to get lost before eventually finding their way. It seemed to be just the right amount of time, having gone around in circles and getting really frustrated when just five minutes before they were to be in the conference room, they ran into Steve.

"Steve! Finally someone we know," Olyvia nearly shouted in praise, "You're heading to the conference room, right?"

"Yes."

Olyvia sighed in relief, "Thank goodness, we're going to follow you then. We got lost."

"Not too surprising," Steve chuckled, "I got lost quite a few times my first time on board."

"Glad to know we're not the only ones," Dianne muttered.

Letting Steve take the lead, the three girls followed behind him to the conference room, where everyone but Stark already were waiting. Natasha was looking at the clock, not looking very pleased, and the girls were betting it was because Stark still hadn't arrived, despite saying he would be there. Dianne's eyes widened in horror when she saw Loki, because not only were his hands detained, he had some sort of device over his mouth.

"What do you have Loki in?" Dianne asked in horror.

"We are detaining him," Fury replied, "He is not in the clear yet."

"I know you guys don't like him because of what he did in New York, but seriously, this is overkill!" Dianne exclaimed.

"You don't know what he was like before," Natasha argued.

"He said he was being controlled by Thanos," Olyvia said, "Or something like that. I can't remember exactly the conversation because Steve sort of…punched him."

"Which I still find hard to believe," Fury rebutted.

"You can at least give him a chance," Dianne went on to say, "So why don't you release him?"

"We don't trust him," Natasha said.

"I trust him," Dianne said.

"That's not enough," Natasha rebutted.

"I trust him," Olyvia said, before turning to Rosemary, "What about you?"  
"I don't know him, why would I?" Rosemary asked.

"He was able to ride Cara," Olyvia said.

Rosemary whipped her head around to Fury, "Yeah, I trust Loki too. Anyone who is able to just approach Livy's angry horse is a good person, let alone ride."

Fury sighed, dropping his head into his hand. These girls didn't understand how dangerous Loki was, but he motioned to Natasha to take his confines off. Natasha looked at Fury incredulously, wondering what he was thinking, but went ahead and removed the hand confines and the thing around his head. Walking around the table, Dianne boldly sat down in the empty seat beside Loki.

"You know you're only going to ostracize yourself by taking my side," Loki whispered to her.

"I don't care," Dianne replied, taking hold of one of his hands and giving it a consoling squeeze.

The others took a seat, Dianne shooting a smirk to Olyvia when Steve took a seat beside her though there were other open seats, who glared back in response. By the time they were done with the debate and seating, it was five o'clock, and Stark finally waltzed in. He froze though when he saw Loki sitting there without any restraints.

"What is he doing without…you know," Stark said, pointing to Loki.

"Take a seat Stark, and we'll get started," Fury said.

Stark took a seat next to Bruce, not taking his eyes off Loki, "Why is he here anyway?"

"In case we have any questions," Fury said, "And he is the one who had personal contact with Thanos after all, we can use the information he can give us."

"If he doesn't lie to us," Stark grumbled.

Fury stood, and began to pace back and forth at the front of the room, "As most of you know, we are facing a powerful foe by the name of Thanos. What we know so far, is that he possesses the Infinity Guantlet, having taken it from Asgard, and has an army of a species called Skrull under his control. So far, he hasn't made any move to attack Earth, but I don't want to wait for that to happen before springing to action."

"His plan isn't to attack earth, but I can see where you might get confused," Loki said.

Fury just ignored Loki's comment and looked over the group. Olyvia raised her hand.

"Yes, Ms. Harris."

"Um…what is this Infinity Guantlet?" Olyvia asked.

Fury had Thor explain, and by the time he finished, Olyvia's eyes looked like they were about to fall out of their eye sockets, Rosemary and Dianne looking just as horrified.

"That…doesn't sound good at all," Olyvia said, "Are you going to stop Thanos before he gets the gems?"

"We will try, but we can only try to stop him when he is trying to obtain one," Fury said, "We do not have the resources, nor the personnel, to attempt to find them ourselves."

"So…you're hoping to train us while he's busy trying to find them," Dianne said.

Fury nodded.

"And just what if he gets them all?" Olyvia asked shrilly, "We'd have no chance against him!"

"Like I said Ms. Harris, I aim to prevent him from getting his hands on them," Fury said.

Loki scoffed, "Not doing much about it though, really."

Fury shot a glare at Loki, who merely gazed coolly back at him. Loki was not scared, nor intimidated by Fury. Thanos on the other hand, was a different story. The titan terrified Loki. He was powerful, and not in his right mind. Those two together was one of the worst combinations.

"Now to defeat Thanos, we have recruited these three to aide us," Fury went on, "I'm sure you're all curious as to what they can do."

"We have guesses as to what," Stark said, "And in fact, a few of us have made bets, so Bruce, Steve, I hope you have your money handy."

Olyvia looked over to Steve, to find him blushing in embarrassment.

"You bet on us?" Olyvia asked.

"Stark wouldn't shut up," Steve replied quietly.

"Let us start from the eldest, shall we?" Fury began, hitting a button on the remote he held to bring up something on the large screen at the front of the room.

Dianne slumped down in her seat, embarrassed to having her face plastered on the large screen as her profile with the updated information was brought up.

"Dianne Harris is capable of aerial flight, as well as cause any inanimate object to become explosive," Fury explained, "With just a simple touch of her hand."

Clint, who was two seats away from Dianne, scooted even further away, as did Thor, only he wasn't as obvious, scooting only an inch at a time.

"I have control over it," Dianne said, looking at Clint, "It's not like whatever I touch will turn into a bomb. Nor can I cause people to detonate, though that would come in handy with Thanos."

"I don't exactly want you that close though," Loki said.

"I might not exactly have that choice," Dianne rebutted.

"How do you make things…explosive?" Stark asked, as he handed over a bill to Bruce.

Dianne shrugged, "I don't know. It just…happens. When I want it to of course."

"Just something else we'll have to test then," Stark muttered.

"Test?" Dianne squeaked.

"Next," Fury interrupted, hitting a button again and this time Olyvia's profile showed up on the screen, "Olyvia Harris can perform feats of super strength, and manipulate sound, her main strength is creating counter balance sound waves in order to create silence. She is also capable of ventriloquism and manipulating her own voice to sound like anyone or anything."

"I'm still working on that though," Olyvia said, "It's not as easy as it seems."

To the others, it didn't sound easy at all.

Olyvia raised an eyebrow at Steve as he held a hand out to Stark, who frowned as he pulled out his wallet, pulled out a hundred, and handed it over. She wondered what exactly Steve had betted on that he, apparently, got right.

"What do you mean creating counter sound waves?" Stark asked.

Fury looked over to Olyvia for her to explain.

"I use my own voice nearly all the time to make the counter wave," Olyvia said, "I just automatically know how to do it, no matter the sound."

Stark went to ask how, but no sound came from his mouth. His mouth then continued to move, probably asking what the heck was going on, but still nothing came out, and Olyvia smirked at him.

"Oh thank god," Steve praised, "Someone who can finally shut Stark up."

Stark obviously tried to tell Olyvia to stop, but since he couldn't be heard, he started to get up from his seat, giving her a threatening look as he did so. Olyvia scooted her seat to the side, ready to run if needed, bumping into Steve in the process.

"Sit back down Stark," Fury ordered.

Stark glared at Olyvia as he sat back down. He didn't take to being silenced too kindly. Steve found it a wonderful thing though, and was even more grateful to have Olyvia as part of their team.

"Then there is Rosemary Harris," Fury went on, switching over to her profile, "To explain it simply—."

"She has super-sonic screams," Dianne and Olyvia said in unison.

"That one I got right," Stark said, holding out a hand to both Steve and Bruce, asking for his money back, which they both did with a sigh.

"Which I can actually silence," Olyvia went on, giving the three guys an odd look, "Though I can't do anything about the blast that comes with it."

"She is also capable of teleportation," Fury went on.

"As long as it is in sight," Rosemary said.

"You did try teleporting into your bedroom from the living room once though," Olyvia said, giving her sister a sly look.

Rosemary turned bright red, "Yeah, and you remember what happened right?"

"You ended up in the attic and half of your clothes didn't go with you," Olyvia replied.

"You didn't have to say it out loud!" Rosemary squeaked.

"That may be something we will want you to work on," Natasha said, "It would come in handy."

Rosemary's face darkened to a dark beet red, pulling her long thick brunette locks over her face in some attempt to hide herself.

"So as of tomorrow, you three will begin your training," Fury said, turning off the visual on the screen.

"What sort of training?" Dianne asked.

Fury looked over to Clint and Natasha, before smiling, "You'll see."

Without another word he left the room, his black duster whipping around in the air as he exited. The three newcomers became pale as they looked over to the two agents.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Dianne asked.

"Because we're going to be thrown to the ninjas without any training," Rosemary groaned.

"We're all going to die," Olyvia lamented.

* * *

After leaving the meeting, everyone got themselves dinner, the three girls discussing how their training might go, and how much they wanted to bet on whether they would survive to day three on the helicarrier. They decided just living to the next day would be enough of a reward, and that if they didn't survive, they wouldn't be able to pay up the money so there was no point of actually betting.

Steve helped them find their way back to their rooms, since he was going to retire early, the girls planning on staying up a little while longer, since they weren't tired yet exactly. Since Dianne's room was the furthest down the hall, she watched as Steve entered his room before craning her head around to find Olyvia, who was still opening her own door.

"Room 221," she said in a loud whisper.

Olyvia stopped, and just looked at her sister in confusion, "What?"

"The Captain's room number," Dianne clarified, "In case you were curious."

Olyvia's face turned so red it would have shamed the red, red rose, "If I had anything within reach, I would totally throw it at you right now."

Dianne smiled innocently at her sister before slipping into her room, just in case she did find anything to throw. Checking Nelly's food dish on her way over to the bed, she found it was empty, so she went ahead and filled it back up. She was still doing fine with the water so she wouldn't worry about that just yet. Once she had finished taking care of the cat chores, she plopped down on the bed and pulled out a book to read. After about an hour sitting there, Nelly finally ventured out from the safety of beneath the bed, and hopped up on the mattress, meowing loudly as she walked over to Dianne. Lowering her book, Dianne smiled at Nelly as she reached out a hand and ran it over Nelly's glossy coat.

"Getting used to the place already? Wow, someone is being a brave kitty."

Nelly then made her way into Dianne's lap, curling up into a tiny ball, and Dianne went back to her book, occasionally reaching down with a hand to pet her. It was getting close to nine, and Dianne was considering going to bed, though her brain was still thinking it was six o'clock in California, when there was a knock on her door, causing Nelly to bolt and disappear back under the bed. Placing her bookmark in place, she set it down on the nightstand before getting up, wondering who would want to talk to her, and at this time in the night. Opening the door, her face lit up with a smile when she saw it was Loki.

"So are they letting you walk around without an escort, or are you tricking your guards again?"

"I may have slipped their watch for a few minutes," Loki said, "They really need to get better at keeping track of me."

"Well, if I get to see you more often, then I say they need to continue doing what they're doing," Dianne said, "So you should probably step inside so you're not seen, plus I don't want Nelly running out the door."

Loki didn't need much more persuading, stepping into the room and shutting the door, and just in time too, seeing as how Nelly was trying to sneak her way to the door. Dianne reached down and scooped the cat up into her arms before she could bolt again, and held her to her chest.

"So…how has your captivity been?" Dianne asked, sarcasm lacing her words.

Loki sighed, and slowly reached out a hand to the cat to allow her to smell him, "It has been… tolerable."

Seeing that the cat did not want to shrink away from him, he ran a few fingers over her head a few times before letting his hand drop to his side. With a frustrated sigh, Dianne let Nelly down onto the bed.

"See, even Nelly, the most skittish of all cats, likes you. She's not even afraid of you," Dianne said, "How can people not trust you?"

"It's because of what I've done before," Loki said.

"But it wasn't you, you said that," Dianne said.

"I also am known to be a liar," Loki rebutted, "And a good one so why would they believe me?"

"I believe you," Dianne said.

Loki closed the distance between the two, and took her into his arms, "Which is really all that matters. Things will be cleared up eventually."

"And then what?" Dianne asked, lifting her head to look him in the eyes.

Loki paused for a few moments before replying, "I'm really not sure. We'll just have to see."

"That's understandable," Dianne said with a nod, and then looked to the clock to see a few minutes had already gone by, "I guess you probably have to go now."

Cupping her face with one hand, Loki bent down and rested his forehead against hers, their noses brushing against each other as he paused for a moment as he went in for a kiss.

"I can stay a little longer."

* * *

**Virtual cookies to anyone who knows where the **_**"Who said that!?"**_** and the **_**"Ignore the voice, it'll go away"**_** lines came from.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I have internet today, so guess what. You get another chapter! I spoil you guys. And as for the lines I asked if anyone knew what they were from, they're from just a short, silly animation called Silent Hill 2: Chibi Edition.**

**harrylee94: I just always had the impression Loki would be good with animals, plus animals are the **_**best**_** when it comes to telling how a person really is. I swear it's a sixth sense. And Olyvia's second power is pretty cool.**

**Crimson TigerLily: Awww, thank you.  
**

**CHAPTER TEN**

The girls were woken up by an alarm going off in their room at six o'clock, one they knew they didn't set so they could only assume it was the work of Fury. Getting up, they found a black suit set just inside their doorway on top of their dressers. When Olyvia unfolded hers, she could only stare at it in disbelief for a few seconds.

"They seriously want me to wear this?" she asked no one in particular, since she was alone in her room.

Looking down at herself, she wasn't so sure how she'd look. She wasn't fat, but she wasn't skinny. She never could be skinny, skinny, due to how she was built, but she could afford to lose some weight.

"Ugh, I'm going to look like a fat penguin flapping around in this thing," Olyvia groaned, tossing her pajamas off and forcing herself to put on the suit.

Looking in the full length mirror in the far front corner of the room, she frowned. She really didn't look too great in a skin-tight suit. She was sure after a month of training though she wouldn't have that problem anymore though. Once pulling her long blond hair back into a ponytail in order to keep it out of the way, she hesitantly left her room. Her sisters were already outside their rooms, waiting for someone to show up and tell them where to go.

"Anyone else feel as uncomfortable as I am in this suit?" Olyvia asked as she stepped outside, wrapping her arms around her waist in some effort to cover herself.

Dianne raised a hand, while Rosemary just shrugged. Olyvia figured Dianne wouldn't be too comfortable wearing something that was skintight, but she didn't look bad in it at all. Olyvia shrunk further back against the wall, willing herself to disappear. Though she may have been comfortable wearing a bikini to go swimming, this suit felt like it clung to every lump on her body, making her look like a fat, lumpy, penguin.

"I don't see why you're uncomfortable in it," Dianne said to Olyvia, "It just makes you look more intimidating, miss broad shoulders. It clings to your muscles."

"I feel like a fat penguin," Olyvia grumbled, "Not like a tank."

Rosemary snickered, "Penguin."

Olyvia frowned, and Rosemary backtracked.

"I'm not calling you one, I just thought your description was funny, she-hulk."

"Don't call me she-hulk!"

"I'm afraid that nickname might stick," Dianne said.

Olyvia glowered at both her sisters, "If anyone, _ever_, calls me she-hulk, I will defenestrate them."

"I'd warn Stark then," Rosemary said, "He seemed to kind of like that name."

"I blame you, by the way," Olyvia growled, "For bringing it up in the first place."

The argument would have continued, if not for Natasha's arrival, asking the girls to follow her. Olyvia shot another glare at Rosemary as they fell in step behind her, warning her that if she said one more word, she just might pommel her.

They were led down into the lower section of the helicarrier, somewhere they hadn't been yet, and they tried their best to remember their path in case they needed to find wherever they were going another day, as well as find their way back. They passed a gym, which was set up with all sorts of equipment, which the girls were hoping would be where they would start for the day, but Natasha led them past, passing a few other large rooms before stopping at another. They entered a small viewing room, looking into a much larger room, which was rather dark, and full of metal crates, as if to provide cover. In the viewing room, were Bruce, Stark, Steve, Clint and Thor. Olyvia's arms wrapped back around her waist, blushing madly as she tried to make herself invisible again. Steve was the last person she wanted to see her in this suit.

"So what we're going to first do today is have you go in one at a time, and Natasha is going to… well, to put it simply, she is going to attack you to see what you can do," Stark began.

"Uh, run?" Rosemary said as if that were the obvious reaction.

Olyvia nodded in agreement. She had seen Natasha in action before, and it made her uneasy knowing she would have to go up against her, without any fighting training.

"Alright, Olyvia, since your birthday was a few weeks ago, you get to go first. As a belated birthday gift," Stark said with a smile.

Olyvia's eyes grew wide with fright, her heart starting to pound wildly. She absolutely hated going first, no matter what it was. She just hated being put in the spotlight, period. Plus, she didn't want to go up against the ninja yet.

"R-Rosemary's birthday is coming up though, you should give her an early birthday present and let her go first."

Rosemary let out an indignant squeak as she glared up at her sister. There was no way _she_ wanted to go first either.

"She'll go next," Clint said, "So if you'll just follow Natasha."

Olyvia whimpered slightly as she headed out of the viewing room and into the arena like room. Natasha stood near the center of the room, and instructed Olyvia to stand across from her, which she did.

"Whenever you're ready," came Clint's voice through a speaker.

Olyvia looked over to Natasha, waiting for her to move. They stood there for quite some time, neither moving and Olyvia could tell the others in the viewing room were getting impatient. The moment Olyvia's eyes moved over that way though, Natasha darted forward. Olyvia was quick to react, letting out a scream as she took off running, scrambling over some of the crates in her way.

Stark groaned as he dropped his head into his hand, "Do you think Fury made the right choice in recruits?"

"Give them time Stark," Clint said, "This is just their first day of training."

"Question is, how long will we have to train them to get the flight reaction worked out of their system?" Stark rebutted.

Clint shrugged, "Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

Back in the arena, Natasha was gaining up on Olyvia, and in order to slow her down, she began knocking over the metal crates to create an obstruction for her to evade. It worked, Natasha nimbly dodging out of the way and increasing the distance between the two. In the viewing booth, everyone's eyes grew wide.

"She's knocking those down as if they're cardboard boxes," Bruce said.

"And it took Steve, and Thor to get them set up," Clint added, "So yes, she's definitely strong."

The chase continued on for about ten minutes when Olyvia was starting to feel particularly exhausted, giving Natasha the chance to catch up to her. As she jumped, ready to knock Olyvia down by hitting her in the back, Olyvia turned around and caught Natasha by her arms, before throwing her away from her. Natasha landed on her feet, and made another go at her. Olyvia blocked one of Natasha's arms as she went in to strike, but didn't manage to get the other, Natasha's fist hitting her in the gut. Natasha didn't stop there though and grabbed onto her arm, pinning it behind her back and pushing her down on the ground.

"See, I know nothing," Olyvia said through her labored breath.

"You didn't even try," Natasha said.

Olyvia growled. If she wanted her to show her what she could do, then fine, she would. As Natasha went to grab her and hoist her back up, Olyvia's hand clamped down on her forearm, and as she rolled over, pulled Natasha down slightly. Natasha was quick to keep her balance, but now that Olyvia was on her back, Natasha bent over her, Olyvia brought up her feet, and shoved Natasha off and across the room, hitting the wall before she went sliding down. Everyone in the viewing room cringed. That looked like it hurt.

"Are we done?" Olyvia asked.

Natasha got back to her feet and smiled, "We've only just started."

Olyvia groaned. Today was going to suck.

* * *

After thoroughly being trounced by Natasha, Olyvia's turn was over, taking a seat in the viewing room, bleeding and bruised. Natasha herself had a few scrapes and bruises, but nothing compared to Olyvia. Steve wasn't sure he liked this training, taking a seat next to Olyvia as she used a wad of Kleenex to stem the bleeding of her nose, ready to help if needed.

"You know, I've only ever had a bloody nose once before," Olyvia said, her voice sounding a little funny since her nose was plugged, "And that was because I ran into a drinking fountain when I was…six years old?"

"How are you feeling?" Steve asked.

"Like I'm going to drown on my own blood," Olyvia replied.

"Natasha should have gone easier on you," Steve said, glancing out the viewing window to see Rosemary heading out towards the middle of the arena with Natasha.

Olyvia shrugged, moaning a little from the pain that caused, since one shoulder was dislocated, "I'm sure she would argue, saying I won't learn to defend myself by her going easy."

"They could first at least try teaching you fighting and defense techniques before throwing you out there," Steve argued.

"That would have been nice," Olyvia muttered, "So who's being thrown out to the ninja next?"

"Rosemary is out there right now," Steve replied.

Olyvia jumped up from her seat, and hobbled over to the window in time to see Natasha and Rosemary begin their spar. Rosemary teleported herself away, and Natasha became noticeably irritated that she was running. However, Rosemary then teleported herself behind Natasha, and grabbing a fistful of Natasha's hair, tugged hard. Natasha whipped around, only to have Rosemary teleport away again.

"You know, she might actually have a better chance of not being hit," Stark commented.

But Rosemary was starting to become too predictable, Natasha whirling around after Rosemary disappeared again, and grabbed her by her neck. Rosemary merely disappeared again. Hobbling over to the speaker, Olyvia pressed the button so she could give her sister some advice.

"You're becoming predictable Midget."

Rosemary nodded, signifying she heard, and disappearing again, Natasha turned around in a circle, waiting to see where she would appear, only Rosemary reappeared directly above Natasha, about fifteen feet in the air. She dropped down, landing on Natasha, nearly causing the agent to crumple to the ground, but Rosemary wasn't nearly heavy enough to do it. Rosemary began pulling Natasha's hair, and kicking her with her feet. Being in contact with her though, Natasha then threw herself down onto her back, knocking the air out of Rosemary before flipping around and pinning her to the ground and covered her eyes so she couldn't see where to teleport. Natasha was having some difficulty holding her down though, from how much Rosemary squirmed. Rosemary managed to roll over enough to where she could aim her head at Natasha, and let out a loud screech, blasting Natasha off of her and sending her into the wall. The screech was so loud, the occupants inside the viewing room cringed, and the window cracked. They all felt really sorry for Natasha at the moment, and were sure that her ears were ringing, if her eardrums hadn't burst.

Getting to her feet, Natasha shook her head, trying to clear it, when Rosemary popped up beside her, using her lack of equilibrium to her advantage, and knocked her feet out from under her. As soon as Natasha got up though, she got in a few good hits to Rosemary before she disappeared again.

Their spar went on for another twenty minutes before Rosemary couldn't take anymore. She wasn't in nearly as bad of shape as Olyvia, but she was bruised and aching. By this time, Olyvia's nose had stopped bleeding and Bruce was resetting her shoulder.

"I can just see it already, I'm going to take the brunt of all the attacks, while you two dance out of harm's way," Olyvia muttered as Rosemary limped back in.

"That's because you can take it better than us," Rosemary said.

"True," Olyvia said, gasping loudly as Bruce then put her shoulder back in its socket, a loud pop emitting from it as he did so, "I have a much higher pain tolerance than you and Dianne. If you were in my place, you'd both be crying."

Rosemary rolled her eyes, as she took a seat on the other side of her sister, since Steve was in the other, "Whatever."

Natasha then came in, one hand pressed over her ear and trying to not to look like she was in extreme pain, "Clint, you go up against Dianne."

Clint nodded, and motioned for Dianne to follow, who was eyeing his bow and arrows with some trepidation. Natasha groaned in pain as she took a seat, and Bruce made his way over to her to see if she needed any help. Rosemary leaned over to Olyvia and whispered, "I at least got Natasha."

"Hey, I softened her up for you," Olyvia rebutted.

"But she quit after I did."

"That's only because you screamed in her face. You almost shattered our eardrums in here. You should probably be a little more careful about that."

"Oh…right…," Rosemary muttered, then leaned in again, "By the way, Steve really seems concerned for you."

Olyvia blushed, glancing over to Steve to see that he was indeed watching her with concern, before elbowing Rosemary so hard she fell off her seat with a squawk. She then turned her attention back to the arena, watching as Dianne flitted about in the air attempting to dodge the practice arrows Clint was shooting at her. They wouldn't fatally injure her, but they would, and did, hurt. She was doing fairly well, dodging most of the arrows, due to how fast she could fly around in the air, which could compete with Stark in his Iron Man suit, but she wasn't attempting to close in on Clint. She dropped down to the ground, and Olyvia could see she was looking around on the ground desperately. Olyvia could only guess she was looking for something small to throw at him that wouldn't hurt him when it blew up. She would need pebbles for that though, since her explosives packed quite a punch.

Clint managed to get to Dianne while she was on the ground, and they had some hand-to-hand combat before Dianne kicked off into the air to get away, some blood on her mouth from a split lip. Their spar went on for about the same amount of time the other two had before, before it came to a stop and the two went back into the viewing room.

"We done for the day?" Dianne asked, using her fingers to pinch the bridge of her nose to stop the bleeding.

"For this skill test, yes," Natasha said, "Now we'll head over to the gym to start training you in self-defense."

Olyvia whimpered. She wasn't looking forward to this.

* * *

At the end of the day, the three sisters were in more pain than they had ever felt before. Olyvia would have taken the after effects of a car accident any day, compared to how she was feeling now. Limping back to their rooms, they gladly took the ice bags Bruce came by with and offered to them.

Steve was feeling rather concerned for the girls, Olyvia in particular, since she did receive the worst beating out of the three. Plus, his little crush on her made him more worried for her safety than the other two. He still worried, of course, since they were his comrades now, but not as much. Once Bruce had made his rounds to the girls' rooms, Steve walked over to Olyvia's room, number 210, and knocked lightly on it. He just wanted to check up on her, and he barely heard her voice saying "come in" granting him permission to enter. Cautiously opening the door, he poked his head in to find Olyvia lying on her bed, the bag of ice on her face and her fluffball of a cat curled up in a ball on her chest.

"Who is it?" Olyvia mumbled, obviously too tired to move the ice from her face. Or it could have just felt really good to have it on.

"It's uh, it's Steve."

Olyvia instantly sat up, the cat falling to her lap with an odd sounding squawk, and grabbed the ice bag to set it down beside her.

"Steve, hi," Olyvia said, smiling for a brief moment before wincing, "Ow…smiling bad."

With a small whimper, Olyvia placed the bag of ice back to her face, this time just covering the left side so she could still see Steve, "Of what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I just…wanted to see how you were holding up," Steve replied.

Olyvia made a so-so gesture with her hand, "I feel like I'm being held together by thread at the moment. And I don't think I've ever been so swollen in my life."

"They should have gone easier on you guys," Steve said, "They should have figured none of you ever had formal combat training."

Olyvia shrugged with one shoulder, since the other that had been dislocated earlier that day was so stiff it didn't want to move anymore, "Perhaps, but I think they secretly enjoyed beating us up."

"I didn't enjoy it," Steve said with a frown.

"Well you weren't doing the beating up, you only watched," Olyvia said, "You know, you can come in. Standing in the doorway will just give Whisper a chance to sneak out."

"Oh…right," Steve muttered, blushing madly as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. This situation became even more awkward for him now; even Olyvia seemed a little uncomfortable, but only just.

"So do you have any hints as to what we'll be put through tomorrow?" Olyvia asked.

"I believe it'll only be more training," Steve said, "And I think Stark is going to try to run some… experiments to see what each of you is capable of."

"Sound fun," Olyvia said sarcastically, "I can just see it now though, we're never going to get a break, are we? We're going to be pushed until either our limbs fall off or we die."

"They'll never push you to such exhaustion," Steve assured her.

Olyvia shrugged, again with one shoulder, "I guess we'll just have to see."

Shifting around on the bed, trying to make herself comfortable, Olyvia winced and adjusted the ice pack so it could cover more of her aching face. Why did Natasha have to punch her so many times? Seeing her discomfort, Steve moved closer.

"Mind if I take a look?"

Olyvia blushed, "O-okay."

Setting the ice bag back down, Olyvia's face began to burn even hotter as Steve bent over her, staring intently at her face. She suddenly became self-conscious about her features, wondering if he would notice that her nose was in fact slightly crooked, or the acne on her face, though it was under control much better now, or that her eyes were set slightly close together. Her breath then caught as his fingers lightly brushed over her bruised cheekbone and upwards to her temple.

"Should have taken it easier on you," Steve said quietly.

"I'm sure it looks worse than it actually is," Olyvia said.

Steve looked at her skeptically, "Have you looked in a mirror yet?"

"I've been a little scared to," Olyvia admitted, "Am I colorful?"

"That's…one way to put it," Steve said, letting his hand drop back down to his side, and after seeming to deliberate for a few moments, sat down on the edge of the bed, "Think you'll be up to tomorrow?"

"I'll have to be," Olyvia replied, "I don't seem to have much choice anyway. I'll be fine though, you don't have to worry. I'm a tough cookie."

"Not invincible though," Steve said, "You can't withstand everything."

"Unfortunately I'm stupid enough to try," Olyvia said with a crooked smile.

"You're not stupid."

"Some would call me that though."

"But you're not."

"Well, I'm glad you think so," Olyvia said, "I do at least know when I reach my limit. Such as now so I'm just going to ice my face a little longer and then try to get as much rest as I can before tomorrow, try to recover my strength."

Steve stood up, "Then I'll let you do that. Goodnight Olyvia."

Olyvia placed the ice bag against the left side of her face as she gave Steve another crooked smile, "Goodnight Steve. See you tomorrow."

Steve then headed out of the room, and walked down to his own, getting ready for bed himself. He had a feeling he would be a lot more involved on the morrow than he was today, and would need to get plenty of rest.

* * *

Dianne was expecting Loki to show up, and for the first time, she was hoping he wouldn't. She didn't want him seeing her like this, all purple, black, blue, green and yellow. Some of her bruises had already turned yellow, that was how bad they were. She was prodding at her split lip with the ice bag, using the mirror to see, when she heard a knock on her door. Running over to the bed, she dove under the covers, still holding the ice bag to her face, and called for whoever was outside to come in. She heard the door open and shut, and a few seconds later felt the weight of someone sitting down on the bed.

"Dianne? Is something wrong?" she heard Loki ask.

"No, just really tired is all," Dianne replied, "We had…a very tiring day."

"Thor told me this afternoon that Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton began training you today," Loki said.

"Uh…yeah, yeah they did," Dianne muttered, "They are uh…very intense. So I am very tired. Very exhausted."

Loki was silent for a few moments, and Dianne wondered what he was thinking. She was willing to bet he could tell she wasn't telling him everything. She wasn't lying, but she was withholding a lot of the truth.

"Dianne, what's really wrong? Why are you hiding?"

"Nothing."

"I know that's a lie."

"Really Loki, I'm just tired is all."

Dianne could feel Loki's hands at the blanket, slowly pulling it away from her, saying her name in barely a whisper. Dianne sighed heavily, knowing it was futile to try to hide from him. So sitting up, she let the blanket fall away and set down the ice bag, to see Loki's eyes grow wide.

"What did they do to you?" he asked in horror.

"Training," Dianne said blandly.

Loki reached out and held Dianne's face gently in his hands, letting his fingers brush over her skin, and Dianne closed her eyes, the sensation of his cool fingers against her skin feeling really nice compared to the throbbing pain of her bruises.

"What sort of training were they doing?" Loki asked incredulously, "Did they have you go up against Bilgesnipe or something?"

"Bilge…what?" Dianne asked in confusion.

"Big lumbering oafs who know nothing other than to destroy," Loki replied.

"Uh…no, no I didn't go up against anything like that," Dianne said, "I was shot at by Clint."

"On purpose?"

"They didn't have arrowheads, they were blunted tips, made for practice," Dianne continued, "The face of course, is when he actually got to me on the ground. It was their way of figuring out we knew no sort of combat training."

"The humans and their stupidity never ceases to amaze me," Loki said with a frustrated sigh, "How are you feeling?"

"Much better now," Dianne said, grabbing Loki's hands and moving them to each side of her face to cover her bruised cheekbones, "Your hands are surprisingly cool, but they feel good."

Loki's countenance changed from one of worry to endearment, before gently pulling Dianne in for a tender kiss, not wanting to chance hurting her even more by being more enthusiastic with it.

"You'll be more careful from now on, right?" Loki asked.

"I was trying to be careful today," Dianne replied.

"Then try harder?"

Dianne smiled, "I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything."

Loki didn't seem content with the answer, but said nothing in reply, instead just pulling Dianne into his arms and just holding her for a few moments before he knew he would have to leave again. He hated how he couldn't spend any time with her now, it was just the scarce few minutes he could slip away to see her. He wished there was something he could do to change that. Perhaps there was, he just needed to think about how to do it.

* * *

Day two of training was in the gym, and while Natasha and Clint taught Dianne and Rosemary more self-defense, and offense of course, Stark had Olyvia come over to another part of the gym, Steve accompanying them by Stark's request. Olyvia gave Steve a look as if asking if he knew what Stark had in mind, and Steve could only shrug in response. He had no idea what was going on in Stark's head.

"Okay, so today we're going to try to figure out the maximum weight you can lift," Stark said as he stopped by a huge pile of weights.

"Um…just lift? Not over the head or anything?" Olyvia asked.

"I know the body is only capable of lifting so much at given heights," Stark replied, "We're going to try to reach your max weight limit that you can't lift at all."

"Uh huh…did you do this sort of test with Bruce too?" Olyvia asked.

"He sort of has to be a green rage monster to lift anything really heavy," Stark said, "Not exactly the safest way to test that, but I've seen him throw a forklift as if it were a Tonka Truck. I think that's good enough to see that he is very strong."

A look of horror crossed Olyvia's features as she looked over to Bruce, who was watching her sister's train, there in case someone got hurt badly. The thought of him being capable of such strength was frightening. She was glad he was on their side, and had control over himself when in the Hulk mode. Well, at least when he went into Hulk mode on his own and he wasn't brought out because of a panic.

"Let's start with a hundred pounds," Stark said, rolling over a very large weight.

Olyvia raised an eyebrow, "You're kidding right?"

"Just pick it up," Stark rebutted.

"Because you can't?" Olyvia couldn't help but retort with a smirk.

Stark glared at her, and then lifted the weight off the ground, though he did struggle with it, and handed it her. Olyvia took it and then with one arm, held it over her head, arm completely extended with the weight lying on the palm of her hand.

"Shall we bump it up to five hundred?" she asked.

Stark looked to Steve, and motioned with his head for him to get over there and help him with the weights. Now it made sense as to why Stark asked for his assistance. Stark of course, didn't take too kindly to the Captain taking twice the weight he had over to Olyvia and not seeming bothered by it at all.

When they reached eight hundred pounds, Olyvia's arms were beginning to quiver ever so slightly, since having to hold them up was a lot more effort than merely lifting them for a brief moment. Stark and Steve just sort of stared at her in shock for a few moments.

"Um…guys? Are you just going to stand there watching me all day or can I put this down yet?" Olyvia asked, "My arms are starting to feel a little tired."

"Just a little?" Stark asked incredulously.

Olyvia went ahead and lowered her arms and set the weights down.

"Let's go down to the hangar," Stark said, heading over to the doors.

"Why?" Olyvia and Steve asked.

"I want to see what she can do with a forklift," Stark said.

Olyvia sighed. She knew there was no way she could throw one like a Tonka Truck like Bruce had, but it didn't look like Stark would be content with her just saying she was incapable of doing such. Working with this guy was going to be exhausting.

* * *

Day three of training went very much like the previous day, though instead of running tests on Olyvia that day, Stark pulled Dianne aside to see whether he could figure out how she turned inanimate items into explosives, which was a rather dangerous process, but at least determined by the end of the day that she imbued the item with some sort of charge that would detonate after approximately ten seconds. Dianne took much delight in watching the small explosive pebbles blow up in Stark's face while he tried to quickly study them in the short amount of time allowed.

Rosemary was learning the fighting skills quickly, her adroitness becoming a great asset to her in the learning process, while Olyvia, though learning the techniques, found she was losing her balance more often than not due to her klutziness which left her vulnerable to opponent attacks, which their teachers graciously demonstrated. Of course, Rosemary couldn't cause as much damage or take as much as Olyvia could.

Day four was Rosemary's turn for her tests with Stark, and he focused on her sonic screams, though he was regretting it after the first hour. His ears rung for the rest of the day. Dianne and Olyvia were making more progress on their training, though they still had a long way to go. They were becoming rather exhausted, unsure of how much longer they could go on with this sort of training before they finally just collapsed in utter exhaustion. They hadn't been sleeping too well, being in a different place, and it was adding up, taking a toll on their performance.

"Do you think pushing them this hard will do them any good Director?" Agent Maria Hill asked as she and Fury watched the recruits train.

"The first week of conditioning is always the hardest, Agent Hill," Fury replied.

"Yeah but…you're kind of overworking them," Maria said, "You have them training fourteen hours a day."

"And you know very well why," Fury snapped, turning to face Maria so he could see her, "We are facing a threat much larger than Loki, and they don't have much time to learn, now do they?"

Maria pursed her lips before replying, "I see your point sir."

Fury turned back to face the window, looking back down where the recruits were training. Natasha had Dianne pinned to the ground, and was instructing her on how to get out of it.

"Do you think it'll be enough though?" Maria asked.

Fury said nothing. He was a little unsure of that himself. They were facing an otherworldly foe here. There were only two people on this helicarrier that could possibly help, one in particular having direct contact with their problem. However, the situation was tricky. How would Fury know Loki wouldn't try anything, if he allowed him a little more freedom, and help, perhaps even join, the team.

* * *

Loki was sitting in his prison cell, staring up at the ceiling from where he laid on the cot in the small room, when he heard the hiss of the door opening. He figured it would be one of the agents to place some food in the room for him, since it was about that time, but glancing out of the corner of his eye, found it was Thor instead.

"For what reason does my brother have to come visit me in this pitiful excuse for a detainment cell?" Loki asked.

"Fury wishes to speak with us," Thor replied, "I am to escort you to him."

"I no longer require a babysitter," Loki said, as he sat up and swiveled his legs off the bed, "But I can understand the man's mistrust of me. What does he wish to speak to me about that he couldn't come here for?"

"He wishes to speak with _us_," Thor reiterated, emphasizing the word us, "So will you come?"

Loki got to his feet, "I doubt I have much choice in the matter."

Loki followed behind his brother out of his cell, and as they started walking down the hall, Loki realized his brother began slowing down, almost to a dead stop as Loki slowed as well.

"Is something the matter Thor?" Loki asked.

"Will you not walk beside me?" Thor asked.

Loki was taken aback by his question, "For what reason?"

"Despite what you believe, I still think of you as a brother, always having you at my side," Thor replied, "We are in this together, because we are brothers. Let me be at your side now to help you."

Loki wanted to retort that he was no brother to him, when he remembered a conversation he had with Dianne weeks ago, about her eldest sister, saying that despite sharing little blood, they were raised together so therefore they were family, sisters. Loki could argue that they at least had some blood in common, but the meaning was still the same. You create the bond to another, it is not something one is born with. Still, it would be difficult for Loki to get over the whole not being told of his real parentage his whole life.

"I will…try," Loki said quietly.

Thor smiled, and clapped an arm around his brother's shoulders, making Loki cringe slightly since Thor still did not know his own strength, and the two continued on to the conference room where Fury was waiting for them.

"I assume you are wondering why I asked for you," Fury stated.

"I assume you are going to tell us instead of dragging it out," Loki retorted.

Fury stared blankly at Loki, clearly not amused, before heading to the door they had just walked through, "If you would follow me."

The brothers shared a confused look before Thor first followed after Fury, Loki reluctantly falling into step after a few seconds. He wasn't entirely sure where this was going. The conference room was a relatively safe area for Fury to speak with him. For all Loki knew, the guy could be leading him to another glass trap to keep him contained. Loki almost stumbled in his step as the thought crossed his mind. Did Fury find out he had been escaping his current cell? If so, then this could be a trip Loki might not very easily return from.

They headed toward the lower levels of the helicarrier, passing some areas familiar to Loki, and he was beginning to think that Fury was indeed leading him to another cell to keep him in, when he finally stopped in a room where the whole front wall of the room was glass.

"In preparation for our fight against Thanos, I've realized something," Fury began as he stood with his back turned to the two, staring out the windows, "That maybe I need to train my team in a way that they will know how to fight against what they're to be up against. None of us know Thanos's tricks. None," Fury then turned around to the Asgardians, "except you Loki."

Loki raised an eyebrow, "You think I know anything more about Thanos than you do?"

"You were working for him, were you not?" Fury probed.

"_Not_ willingly," Loki hissed, "Or do you ignore that fact."

"I am not inclined to believe you," Fury said, "I know your brother will always stick up for you, try to assure us you are a good person, but _I_ have yet to see it."

"I'm waiting for there to be a point in this conversation that I have yet to see," Loki said, already bored with it. He had been told thousands of times already nobody trusted him. The constant reminding was starting to become tiresome.

"I'm willing to give you a chance Loki," Fury said, causing Loki to stare at him in shock, "Only _one_ chance. You have to know more about Thanos than any of us, and I think it would do well for not only our new recruits, but the whole team, to train with you in order to prepare them to fight against him."

"You don't think them fighting me before wasn't enough?"

"The recruits have no experience fighting against magic," Fury said, "And it wouldn't hurt the others to join in either. I'd like if you and Thor would do this. You will be taken out of your cell, and given a normal room, just like the others."

"Why this sudden change of heart?" Loki asked, "I can still see you do not trust me, and this chance won't come without a price. So what is it?"

Fury motioned Loki to come closer, which he did, standing next to Fury at the window, given they were out of arm's reach of each other. Looking down, Loki saw they were above the gym, where Dianne and her sisters were training. Loki couldn't help but flinch slightly when he saw Dianne being thrown over Clint's shoulder and landing hard on the mats that covered a portion of the floor.

"If you try anything, other than what is necessary for the training, I cannot guarantee Dianne's safety," Fury said.

Loki whirled around to face Fury, appalled by what he just said.

"You would harm your own people…just to keep me in line?" Loki asked darkly.

"I have seen the way you interact with the girl, Loki," Fury said, "I know of your feelings for her. And if jeopardizing her safety keeps you from causing mayhem, then I will do it. I don't trust you Loki, and I'm warning you of the consequences that will occur if you blow this chance."

Loki was having difficulty controlling his emotions, becoming very angry toward the Director for threatening Dianne. Because he was doing that, it was taking all of Loki's self-control to not kill him right then and there. He would never let _anyone_, harm her. He would die himself before he let that happen. He cared far too much for her, that was something he had been missing in his life and now that he had it, he would be damned if he let anyone take that away from him.

"So do you accept my conditions?" Fury asked.

Loki masked his anger, staring blankly at the Director, "I accept."


	11. Chapter 11

**Three chapters three days in a row! You guys are most definitely spoiled.**

**Meanxruki: I am trying to add more Loki, really I am! And thank you so much, that means a lot.**

**msgone: Yes, yes he is.**

**AN: Realized I made a mistake on type of Scan later on so I needed to change it. It would have bothered the hell out of me.  
**

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

As the sisters were finishing up the last bits of training before their dinner break, they received a bit of a surprise, the Avenger team being taken more by surprise as Loki entered the training room alongside Thor and Fury.

"What is he doing here?" Stark was the first to ask.

"He is here under my direct orders," Fury replied, "If I could just take a moment of your time, I have something to explain to all of you."

The team gathered closer together and Fury explained to them the situation of Loki training with them, more specifically the recruits. All but the three sisters began to protest.

"How do you know he won't cause us any harm?" Steve asked.

"Or try getting away?" Clint added.

"I was under the impression we didn't trust him," Natasha chipped in.

"Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff, if you wish to know the details, you can ask me again in the conference room," Fury said, "As for the rest of you, whether you like it or not, Loki is part of the team and I expect you to behave yourselves."

"I guess I can…try to restrain myself from killing him," Stark muttered.

Dianne shot Stark a glare, and aimed a kick at him, hitting him right in the shin. Stark cringed, and returned her glare with one of his own. Fury said nothing else as he left, leaving Thor and Loki there. Dianne went to walk over to him, when she stopped and looked over to Natasha first.

"You may take your break now," Natasha said.

Olyvia and Rosemary were suddenly no longer weary as they took off at a run to the doors, chanting something about food as they left and Dianne moved to Loki's side.

"Is Fury actually serious?" she asked, "He's just…giving you free roam of the place now?"  
"More or less."

"I thought he didn't trust you," Dianne said quietly so the others couldn't overhear, "So what sort of threat did he make in some attempt to keep you in line?"

Dianne saw a look of pain flash across his face for the briefest moment, before returning to a blank countenance, "Oh just the usual death threats."

She wouldn't have been surprised, but she had a feeling it was more than that. With a sad smile, she wrapped her hand in his.

"Come on, I only have a thirty minute break and I'm starving."

Pulling Loki behind her, the two left the gym.

"Any volunteers to keep an eye on him?" Natasha asked.

"I'll go," Steve, Bruce, Clint and Stark all replied in unison.

"Clint, why don't you come with me?" Natasha suggested, "The rest of you can go."

The other three then left the room, leaving Thor looking lost and confused.

"Why do you not trust my brother?" he asked, aiming his question to the two remaining agents.

"You do remember what he did here, right?" Natasha asked.

"He has changed though," Thor said in defense for his brother, "How can you not see it?"

"He is very good at hiding his feelings," Clint said, "All I see is an empty shell."

"He is much more than that," Thor said, "I hope in time that you will come to see that as well."

* * *

After the half hour dinner break, it was back to the gym for the girls. Loki came as well, just to watch. It would be tomorrow that he would begin training with them. There was still a substantial amount of testing to be done on each of the girls, but now that they had gone several days without the personal tests, it was Olyvia's turn again, which Stark reminded her as they were leaving for the night.

"Ooh joy, experiment day, my favorite," Olyvia said sarcastically, giving Stark a thumbs up as she backed toward the door.

"Of course it is, you get to hang out with me all day," Stark shouted loudly enough for her to hear before she disappeared through the doorway.

"Whatever," Olyvia said, extending her left arm out in some sort of wave as she left.

Steve was about to go and call it a night when Stark approached him.

"I'm going to need to borrow you again tomorrow," Stark said.

"For manual labor again? You can do it yourself Stark," Steve rebutted.

"Actually, I had something else in mind," Stark said.

Steve paused, not liking the mischievous glint in the billionaire's eye, "What?"

"I want to see if Livy is stronger than you," Stark replied, before walking to the door.

Steve stared blankly where Stark had been standing for a few seconds as his brain processed what Stark just said. It was already obvious she was physically stronger, but he knew Stark had something else in mind. He wanted him to fight a _girl_, and not just any girl but one he had some feelings toward. Steve whirled around to ask why, but Stark was already gone. Steve sighed. How was he going to do this?

* * *

Heading to the gym the next day, Olyvia wasn't surprised to find Steve helping Stark again, since the man of Iron seemed to need some help lifting heavy objects without his suit, but Olyvia quickly realized that wasn't the case today as she was brought over to another section of the gym covered with floor mats to provide padding, just like where she and her sisters had their self-defense training. Steve wasn't in any sort of training clothes, just wearing his khaki jeans and white t-shirt, so she wasn't entirely sure what was going on.

"Wait a second…something's fishy here," Olyvia said, giving Stark a suspicious look.

"Since we have already determined that you are…rather strong, I want to see if you're stronger than the Captain here," Stark said.

"Can he lift up a forklift?" Olyvia asked, crossing her arms and glaring at Stark.

"Well…I doubt it, but this is a much more fun way of determining who is the stronger fighter," Stark said, "So don't be shy, come on over."

Olyvia still hadn't stepped foot on the mats, where the other two were and she wasn't about to anytime soon.

"I'm still learning my fighting skills!" Olyvia argued.

"Then that'll give the Captain a chance then, won't it?" Stark asked.

Olyvia looked over to Steve, and fought the blush creeping up on her face. She didn't exactly want to be so close, or hitting him for that matter. She wasn't too concerned though about him hitting back because she could take a hit, plus, she had a feeling he wouldn't go all out against her.

Stark tried coaxing her over again, and with a grumble she stomped out over to the two, making sure she was out of arm's reach from Steve.

"Okay, now go at it!" Stark said, jumping away from the two.

Steve and Olyvia just looked at each other for a few seconds before Olyvia inched forward, and just extending her arm, poked Steve in the side. Steve smiled. She obviously didn't want to do this just as much as he did.

Stark let out a frustrated growl, "I said fight."

Olyvia merely poked Steve again, and Stark looked over to Steve, practically begging with his eyes that he get the spar started. Steve didn't want to hit Olyvia, so he did was Olyvia did, and poked her back. Except Olyvia let out a squeak and fell to the floor when he did that.

"What just happened?" Stark asked.

Olyvia popped back onto her feet, blushing madly as she took a step away out of Steve's arm reach, and wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach.

"Are you seriously that ticklish?" Steve asked.

"I am not answering that, because everyone's reaction is the same once I give my answer."

"What, this?" Steve asked, stepping forward and poking her again.

Olyvia let out another squeal as she hopped away, slapping at his hands with her own, "No touchie!"

"I can't believe this," Stark groaned, "Our secondary tank's weakness is tickling. Who would have thought?"

"It's not my fault I'm ticklish," Olyvia said, jumping back again when Steve took another step forward, just to josh her, and again with an odd sounding squeak from her throat.

"Will you two just…fight already?" Stark asked in frustration, "That is the whole point in today's experiment, so just do it already."

Olyvia watched Steve warily, waiting for him to make the first move. She doubted he would though, so this would just continue as a standoff. So with a deep breath, Olyvia made the first move, aiming a kick at Steve's chest since he was still out of arm's reach. Steve leaned back and out of the way, knocking away her leg with a swing of his arm, and Olyvia almost lost her balance as she swung her leg back down. Catching her footing, she then moved forward and swung a few punches, Steve blocking a few hits while she managed to hit him once or twice. She noticed he wasn't hitting back, merely holding her off while she wailed on him.

"I thought the point was for the both of us to fight, Steve," Olyvia said as she threw a few more punches and kicked him square in the chest.

"I don't want to hurt you," Steve replied.

"I'm sure I can handle it," Olyvia said, "Besides, how am I ever going to learn if you hold back?"

"She has a point Rogers, so fight back!" Stark shouted from the sidelines.

"Can it Stark," Steve snapped.

As Olyvia went to punch again, Steve grabbed her arm, and then swinging her around to where her back was to him, grabbed the other and pinned them behind her back and held her to where she was nearly pressed up against his chest. It was just an automatic reaction for Steve, and when his brain finally computed that a woman was that close to him, he couldn't help but blush. Since Olyvia's face was turned away from him, he couldn't see that her face was also red, her heart rate speeding up as she felt his breath against the back of her neck. As much as she didn't mind too much being close to him, she was pinned, and her arms were at an odd angle.

"Okay, how did Natasha explain how to get out of this one?" Olyvia muttered to herself.

Olyvia wracked her brain for a few seconds before she bit her lip. Well, she knew of _one_ that was a surefire way to get out.

"Do you yield?" Steve asked, seeing as how she wasn't struggling too much.

"Steve, I apologize in advance," Olyvia said.

"For what?"

Bringing up the heel of her foot, she hit him right between the legs, making him double over in pain, and Olyvia whirled around, grabbed Steve by his arms, pinning them behind him and then with a kick to the back of his knees, he crumpled down onto them, her nearly losing her balance again.

"Oh! The Captain just got owned by a girl!" Stark exclaimed. He was having far too much fun watching.

"Do _you_ yield?" Olyvia asked.

"I don't go down that easily."

Olyvia suddenly found herself being thrown over Steve's head from the momentum of him pushing his torso forward and using the little arm movement he had in order to throw her. The air was knocked out of Olyvia as she landed hard on the mat, and before she had the chance to gain her breath and get back on her feet, Steve had her pinned again. Olyvia's face turned beet red due to how Steve was pinning her down, straddling her and pinning her crossed arms against her chest. It was a rather provocative position, especially to someone watching. Like Stark.

"Wow Cap'n, didn't think you'd move _that_ fast."

Steve's face flushed red when it finally registered in his head the sort of position he was in, and what it looked like to Stark. He loosened his hold on her as an automatic reaction, and Olyvia took that opportunity to flip him over onto his back, and then moved her legs to straddle him and pin him down, pushing his arms above his head so he wouldn't have much leverage over her.

"Are we done?" Olyvia asked with a smirk, trying to force the blush off her face.

Steve, not about to be outdone by a girl, flipped her over to where he was on top again, but this time he flipped her over again onto her stomach and pinned her arms behind her back, pressing one knee into the small of her back to try to keep her still. Olyvia struggled, thinking of how to get out of this one when she paused as she turned her head over to Stark to see he held something in his hand, aiming toward them.

"Um…Stark, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Recording," Stark said, "To have proof that Steve wrestled with a girl."

Steve's face began burning in embarrassment again, "You are such a child Stark."

"And you're an old man," Stark rebutted.

Olyvia's stomach lurched into her throat hearing Stark had been recording the spar, and with a sudden burst of adrenaline, tucked her knees up under her chest, and then using her legs, threw herself backward, slamming Steve down onto the mat and knocking the air out of him. Steve gasped loudly as she then elbowed him hard in the chest to get him to let go before scrambling to her feet and ran over to Stark.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Stark asked as he began to back away.

Olyvia grabbed the small digital video recorder, and with a squeeze of her hand, crushed it. Stark's jaw dropped as he stared in shock at the remains as she let it drop to the floor.

"I am not going to let you embarrass me by sharing that video," Olyvia said through her labored breathing.

Stark scooped up the broken pieces of his precious gadget, "You…you…"

"I'm camera shy, alright!" Olyvia went on, "I don't like being recorded."

"You do realize you're on camera nearly all the time here on the helicarrier anyway, right?" Stark asked heatedly.

"That's for security purposes and I understand that," Olyvia said, "Yours was purely for the intent to embarrass."

Stark took in deep breaths to calm himself, trying to remind himself that it was just a simple gadget, he had more, he could make more. But there was no way to replicate that video!

"Are we done here?" Olyvia asked.

Stark nodded, "Yeah, we're done."

Olyvia slowly backed away from Stark, just to watch his expression to see how upset he was, before turning around to look at Steve. He was still lying on the ground, right hand lying on his chest.

"You alright there Steve?" Olyvia asked in concern.

"I'm fine," Steve replied, "Think I might actually bruise, but fine."

Olyvia offered him a hand, which he took and pulled himself to his feet.

"So I'm guessing I have to go back to normal training now," Olyvia groaned.

"Probably," Steve said.

With a sigh, Olyvia began heading over to the other side of the gym, Steve going with her. Once they were far enough away, Stark began pulling apart the broken pieces of the camera, before pulling out a small memory chip and he smiled. It was undamaged.

* * *

A few days later it was the girls' chance for their weekly call to their mother. They all reported just about the same thing, the days were long, training was hard and tiring, and they missed her cooking. Rosemary was probably the most excited during her conversation with her mother, saying that she was becoming a ninja. Until Brenda asked how she was keeping up on schoolwork, and that brought Rosemary's spirits down, admitting that she was falling behind because they weren't giving much time for her to work on it despite getting more breaks than her sisters because she needed to do homework.

They also had the day off, in a sense. Bruce was going to go over their blood test results with them today so they would be in the lab for a while, but other than that, they weren't being required to have any formal training. It was always optional, and highly encouraged. The girls happily slept in to eight o'clock, before the sunlight was too bright and wouldn't allow them to get any more sleep. As Olyvia got dressed, Whisper just would not leave her alone, meowing and begging constantly for attention, rolling over onto her back at Olyvia's feet every time she stopped walking.

"Do you want to come with me today? Huh, is that what you want?" Olyvia asked, picking her cat off the floor.

Whisper purred loudly as she rubbed her head against Olyvia's chin.

"Well, since you're such a laid back, lazy kitty I guess I could give it a try."

So slipping on her red plaid flats to go with her dark wash jeans and red t-shirt, she headed out into the hallway with Whisper in her arms, went over to Dianne's door, and knocked.

"Who is it?" she barely heard Dianne's voice through the door.

"The abominable snowman," Olyvia replied.

The door opened just enough for Dianne to wedge herself in the doorway, "Hello sibling, what do you want?"

"I was just checking to see if you were ready to head to the lab," Olyvia replied.

Dianne's eyes landed on Whisper, "Are you taking her?"

"I figured why not," Olyvia replied, "She's just going to just lay around anyway. She doesn't care what's going on around her. Well, unless there is a vacuum, then she cares."

"I wish I could take Nelly, but she would freak out from me holding her so long," Dianne frowned.

"You can hold Whisper to get your kitty fix while we're there," Olyvia offered.

Dianne shrugged, "Eh, maybe. She's not my kitty, it's just not the same. Anyway, I am just about ready to go, you go fetch Rosemary."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Olyvia said sarcastically, clearly not too fond of being bossed by her sister.

Olyvia turned back around and headed to Rosemary's room, knocking on the door until she opened it about ten seconds later.

"What?" Rosemary asked grumpily.

"Ready to go to the lab?"

Rosemary grumbled under her breath, "Just give me a few minutes."

Rosemary then just slammed the door in her sister's face and Olyvia stared appalled at the door. Either her sister woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or it was her time of the month. Getting bored staring at the door for more than a few seconds, Olyvia moved so she could lean against the wall as she waited for her sisters to finish and join her. It was as she was waiting that Steve came walking by.

"You only just now got up?" Steve asked as he slowed to a stop next to her.

"Hello, good morning to you too," Olyvia replied with a small smile, "I slept great, thanks for asking."

Steve blushed, "Sorry."

"It's okay," Olyvia laughed, "Still, I don't see how anyone can get up before eight o'clock without having a good reason, like work or school."

"Or training."

"Or that," Olyvia agreed, "I'd probably be dragged out of my bed if I tried skipping. But seeing as how this is my day off, I take full advantage of my sleeping in time."

"So you're just about to head to Banner's lab?" Steve asked.

Olyvia nodded, "Yep. Probably will be poked and prodded more too. What about you? What are your plans?"

"Well, I spent my morning training in the gym already," Steve said, "I'll probably just stay in my room for most of the day. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, just curious," Olyvia said, "After the lab I'll probably do the same thing. Waste time on a hobby or napping or something."

Steve was about to ask what sort of hobbies she had when Dianne stepped out of her room so instead he just said goodbye, saying he would see her later and disappeared into his room. Dianne scooted over to her sister, a sly smile on her face.

"So what was that about?" she asked.

"We were just talking," Olyvia replied, "So you can wipe that smile off your face."

"No," Dianne said, her grin growing wider.

Olyvia just glared at her sister instead of trying to push the issue. She knew she would just tease her relentlessly anyway. A few minutes later Rosemary finally joined them, and the three headed to the lab. They had gotten fairly acquainted with the helicarrier that they knew their way around to the places they went to the most so they didn't get lost on their way to the lab. As they entered, they found that all of the Avengers were there, minus Steve of course, even Loki was there, and they were all huddled together, well except Loki, watching something that the girls couldn't see. Loki, since he wasn't really enthralled by whatever the others were watching, noticed their arrival, and seeing them began tapping Thor on the shoulder, trying to get his attention for some reason, but Thor paid him no mind. The three girls entered slowly, wondering what was going on when they heard Stark.

"This is my favorite part."

Loki began poking Thor harder, only to have his hand batted away. The whole group let out an "oooooh" as if they watched someone just biff it.

"Well she certainly has learned what we've taught her," Natasha then said.

"Still a bit of a klutz but she's getting the hang of it," Clint added.

Olyvia's eyes widened in horror when she realized they were talking about her, and there was only one thing they could possibly be watching to be making those comments. Loki, seeing her expression, stepped back and away from the others, who were telling Stark to play it again. Olyvia ran over and thrust her head in between Bruce and Stark, making Stark jump.

"Shit," Stark squeaked, seeing her there.

"H-h-how!?" Olyvia screeched as she tossed Whisper over her shoulder and used her hands to cover the computer screen they were watching video on, which had started over, "STARK! Turn it off now!"

Afraid of physical retribution from Olyvia for this, Stark turned it off.

"Where is the memory card?" Olyvia questioned darkly.

"Memory card?" Stark asked innocently.

"I'm not stupid Stark, memory card _now_."

"No," Stark said, crossing his arms and giving her a haughty look.

A feral growl rumbled out from Olyvia's throat, her hands starting to form into claws instead of fists, and Dianne hurried over and grabbed her sister by her shoulders and steered her away.

"Just breathe Livy," Dianne instructed, "Deep breaths, calm yourself."

Rosemary came over with Whisper in her hands and gave her back to Olyvia, who clutched her to her chest as she took in deep breaths. While her back was turned, Stark sneakily took out the memory card and pocketed it.

"Ahem…Bruce, your turn," Stark muttered to his co-worker.

"Right," Bruce said, "Um…the rest of you can go."

With a nod, the other four left, Loki gazing almost longingly at Dianne as he walked out of the room. Now it was only the girls, Bruce and Stark.

"About your blood tests—," Bruce began.

"What is that thing doing here?" Stark asked, interrupting Bruce and pointing at Whisper.

Olyvia growled again, glaring daggers at Stark.

"How about you just set her down for a little," Rosemary whispered.

Still glaring at Stark, Olyvia set Whisper on the floor. She wasn't worried about her running off, she was becoming too busy smelling out the room for that.

"Anyway," Bruce said turning the attention back to him, "About your blood tests, there is really very little to inform you about."

"Meaning?" Dianne asked.

"There is nothing in your system that would explain the phenomenon of your abilities," Bruce said, "Everything is…normal. There is absolutely no abnormalities in the blood."

"Huh…so our abilities aren't part of our DNA then?" Olyvia asked.

"Doesn't appear to be," Bruce said, "Though for your case Olyvia, there was a little something, but only slightly. It was difficult to determine."

"So…what now then?" Olyvia asked.

"If it would be possible, I'd like to take a tissue sample of your muscle," Bruce said.

Olyvia gaped at him, "What? Are you serious?"

Before Bruce could reply, JARVIS spoke up.

"Sir, the feline is eating the plant in the corner."

Stark jumped up and ran over to the plant Whisper was chewing on, and shooed her away.

"Get that thing out of here!"

"Good Whisper, you eat that mean Stark's plant," Olyvia praised as she walked over to the cat and scooped her back up into her arms.

"I'm watching you," Stark muttered darkly, giving the cat the evil eye.

Bruce then made his way over to Olyvia, holding a plastic container and a scalpel. With a grimace, Olyvia agreed to give a tissue sample, and the two headed over into a room attached to the lab where he proceeded to get the sample.

"And as for you two, the Doctor will want to get PET Scans of your brain," Stark explained to the girls while Bruce was busy.

"We're going to be here a while then, aren't we?" Dianne asked.

"For a bit, yes."

So the two took a seat while they waited for Bruce to return. He came out about ten minutes later, followed by Olyvia who had a bandage wrapped around her left bicep.

"You'll want to take it easy tomorrow as well," Bruce said, "I'll let Agent Romanoff and Barton know so they won't give you a hard time."

"Thank you Dr. Banner," Olyvia said.

"You may call me Bruce, there is no need for formalities here," Bruce replied.

"Very well. Am I excused Bruce?"

Bruce nodded, and Olyvia said a quick goodbye to her sisters before heading out the laboratory doors. He then turned to the other two.

"I assume Stark told you I wanted to get a PET Scan."

They nodded.

"Just follow me."

Dianne looked back to the doors as she followed after Bruce, wondering how long this would take. She had planned on spending time with Loki today, and she could only assume he was waiting for her to be finished. Maybe if she pulled being the older sister card she could get this done first and get out of here.

* * *

Olyvia was more than glad that the lab trip didn't take long, despite her left arm feeling extremely sore now. Bruce was as gentle as he could be, taking a sample of her muscle tissue, but still the pain was unbearable, her whole arm aching. Her plan for the rest of the day was to take it easy and just sketch in her sketchbook. Setting Whisper down back onto the floor, Olyvia made herself comfortable on her bed and pulled out her sketchbook. Over the week they had been here already, she had made a few doodles in it already, mostly of the team she was now a part of. Needless to say, in her doodles she wasn't all that kind towards Stark, having not taken much of a liking to him at the start. She was definitely going to add a few more of them today, after his video stunt. Flipping through some of the previous sketches, she smiled with the tiniest hint of a blush at one of the quick sketches she had done of Steve. He was just so perfect and beautiful, she couldn't help but draw that face of his.

With a resigned sigh, she turned to a blank page. There was no way he would ever consider her more than a friend. He was a much more serious person than her, and there were many a time where she was more immature than serious.

Pressing her pencil down to the page, she began releasing her pent up emotions through it, sketching out a caricature of herself pommeling Iron Man. She would never do it in real life of course, she was still far too intimidated by him.

Once finishing with that sketch, she was starting to feel better and started another sketch, this time of Natasha. Olyvia thought she was such a badass, and though she was a strict teacher, she was very good and Olyvia liked her a lot. After spending a few hours in her room, getting lost in her work, she was brought back to reality hearing a knock on her door. Closing the sketchbook on a finger to keep her place, she hopped off the bed and opened it. She couldn't help but blush as her heart leapt seeing it was Steve.

"Am I needed for something?" she asked, unable to come up with any reason as to why he would be at her door.

"Needed—oh, no I was just uh…I wasn't even sure if you were back yet from your…previous obligations," Steve stammered, then he noticed the book in her hand, "Is that a sketchbook?"

Olyvia's face nearly exploded from how madly she was blushing, and she pulled her finger out from keeping her place and snapped it shut, "Uh…yeah. I-I draw a little. B-b-but I'm done, if I'm needed somewhere."

Olyvia moved back over to her bed to set the sketchbook back down, and that was when Steve noticed the bandage.

"What happened?" Steve asked, stepping into the room.

"What? Oh, the bandage. Bruce just wanted to get a tissue sample from me. It's nothing bad. Hurts like hell, but it's fine. I'm fine. Um…so you never said why you were here."

Steve's face flushed red and he shifted uncomfortably on his feet, running his hand through his hair anxiously, "I-I was just uh…checking up on you, see if you…had lunch…yet."

"And if I didn't?" Olyvia asked.

"I'd ask if you'd join me then," Steve replied, trying to keep eye contact, but averted his gaze due to feeling embarrassed.

"Sure," Olyvia replied, her heart pounding a little harder in her chest, "Lunch uh…lunch sounds good. Let me just uh…put on some shoes."

Slipping on her pair of flats, she headed over to the door, following after Steve and shutting it behind them before Whisper could follow.

"So you draw too?" Steve asked as they walked side by side down the hallway.

"Like I said, just a little," Olyvia replied, "And what do you mean I draw _too_?"

"Well, I've noticed you're also quite musically talented," Steve said.

"Oh…well thank you. I have always been musically inclined, but I guess that is also partly to my uh…abilities."

"Is there anything you can't do? In relation to music, I mean."

"Dance," Olyvia replied immediately.

"Really?"

"I'm sure you've noticed what a klutz I am," Olyvia chuckled, "Dancing requires some grace and I am sorely lacking in that area. I love dancing though. Of course, being the shy quiet person that I usually am, I never had the guts to ask a guy to dance, or dance with a guy who asked me. Being around a guy makes me nervous."

"I make you nervous?" Steve asked.

"No! I mean…sort of?" Olyvia replied uncertainly, her face steadily becoming a deep shade of crimson, "I-i-it's just I've been raised in a household of girls with my dad not around a lot due to how busy he was. I've never been comfortable around men and I'm just going to shut up now before I dig myself even deeper."

"If I make you uncomfortable, I can just…go," Steve said, sounding slightly hurt.

"No, I don't want you to do that either," Olyvia said, before stopping and slapping herself, "Let me start over. I am comfortable around you…but there are times when I'm not so much, such as a few days ago. I've never…been close to a guy so being physically close makes me a little nervous, but it has nothing to do with you specifically. I mean…don't _I_ make you nervous sometimes?"

"I guess sometimes, yes," Steve said in agreement.

"So are we good now?" Olyvia asked.

Steve nodded, "Yeah, we're good."

Olyvia sighed in relief, "Good. Let's keep going then shall we? I'm famished, I skipped breakfast today so pardon me if I eat a big lunch."

"Oh, I doubt you could eat more than me," Steve said. Due to the super-soldier serum, he burned calories faster than any human being, which also caused him to have a much bigger appetite.

"If that is a challenge, I'm not going to accept it," Olyvia said, "I am trying to keep my waist trim. Or at least as trim as it can get."

So onward they continued to the food court, just chatting about whatever. Olyvia couldn't help but feel a little sad on the inside though. Steve was the first guy ever in her life she felt so comfortable with, and the only reason she felt uncomfortable around him sometimes, was because she liked him. Things just could never be between them though. He was Captain America, an American Hero, one of the most famous men in all of history, while she was just a simple girl. A nobody. There was no place for her other than an ally and friend.

* * *

Dianne was the first to get the PET Scan done, and once she finished hurried out of the lab. She wasn't sure where she would find Loki, but she may as well start with his new living quarters, just a few doors down from her own. She hadn't gotten far from the laboratory doors before she felt a cool breath against her face and the slightest whisper.

"Looking for me?"

Dianne nearly leapt into the ceiling she was startled so bad, whirling around to see Loki smiling at her in amusement.

"You scare as easily as your sister," Loki teased.

"Which one?"

"Hmm, both," Loki replied, "Though I know not to startle your younger sister ever again."

"I warned you, she's loud," Dianne said, remembering one of the incidences between Loki and Rosemary just days after he first started training with them. Rosemary nearly deafened Loki when he snuck up on her, and she screamed in surprise. Purely unintentional, but almost permanently damaging.

"I don't even think that even fully describes them," Loki said, "But enough about Rosemary. She's not why I'm here."

"Wait, let me guess," Dianne closed her eyes, making a face acting like she was thinking really hard, "Hmmmmrrrkk…Nelly, you want to visit Nelly. I didn't know you loved cats so much."

Loki rolled his eyes. Dianne knew very well his opinion about cats, he didn't care much for them. Instead of correcting her verbally, he pulled her in and kissed her.

"You are just being silly, you know that," Loki said matter-of-factly.

"It's part of my charm," Dianne replied.

"Yes, well will my charming Dianne care to join me this afternoon?" Loki asked.

Dianne cocked her head to the side, "Are you asking me out on a date good sir?"

"I am not familiar with this term," Loki said, a look of confusion on his face.

"Uh…to court? Courting? Something like that," Dianne guessed, unsure of what sort of word he may be familiar with.

"Ah, then yes, I guess you could say I am," Loki said.

"I'd love to," Dianne said, "What did you have in mind?"

Loki held out his hand for her to take, "Let me show you."

* * *

"You know, one thing I never told you was that I hate heights," Dianne said as Loki led her out onto an indoor balcony made completely of glass, looking like an observatory almost. Dianne could see the ocean far, far, _far_ down below them through patches in the clouds, and since she was completely surrounded by glass, very clean glass, she felt like she would fall at any moment.

"You're inside though," Loki pointed out.

"Still unnerving," Dianne said as she inched after Loki, who still had a hold on her hand.

"I'll be right here," he whispered to her, and Dianne squeezed his hand tighter, even though she already had a death grip on it.

"What are we doing out here again?" Dianne asked.

"There is something I want to show you," Loki replied.

Dianne couldn't imagine what it was, except perhaps the view, but they could have enjoyed that from a less see-through part of the ship. And it wasn't even close to sunset, so she knew it wasn't that. Unless Loki planned on keeping her out here for that long.

Finally reaching the furthest out point on the glass observatory, Loki sat down and had Dianne sit in front of him. One hand holding her by her wrist, Loki could feel how rapidly her pulse was pounding.

"We won't be here long, I promise," Loki assured her.

"As in we can get up right now?"

Loki smiled, "You can close your eyes for a while if that would make things easier."

"You know how easily glass breaks right?" Dianne asked, closing her eyes and tightening her grip even more on Loki.

"I am still surprised you are so terrified, even though you are capable of flight," Loki replied.

"Falling still terrifies me."

"But you can—."

"I know I can fly, doesn't make a difference," Dianne interrupted, "Those first few seconds in which I'm falling are terrifying. Who's to say I won't freeze up in my panic and fall to my death?"

"You're thinking too much about it," Loki said calmly into her ear, "Just relax."

"How can I relax? I am sitting thousands of feet in the air with only a piece of glass between me and the ocean. How thick is the glass anyway?"

"Don't think about it," Loki whispered again, and he could feel Dianne shiver slightly, "It's just the two of us."

"And empty space," Dianne muttered.

Loki sighed. She wasn't going to drop it was she? Letting go of her wrist with his left hand, he wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled her closer to him.

"I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

He felt her relax slightly, and he rested his chin on her shoulder, waiting for the moment he brought her up here for. They only had to wait for a few minutes, before it happened.

"Dianne, are your eyes still closed?" Loki asked.

"Yes," Dianne replied, as if that were obvious.

"Well, you should open them now."

Dianne slowly opened one eye before both snapped open in awe. The sun was hitting the clouds just right that they glowed a vibrant gold, looking like an ocean in the sky. Dianne had never seen clouds this color, and it was beautiful.

"It's…it's beautiful Loki," Dianne said breathlessly, voicing her thoughts, "Wow, I never knew…"

"I happened upon it by chance the first time, and have come to see it a few times since," Loki said, "But, it is definitely more beautiful this time."

Dianne blushed, feeling Loki's gaze on her instead of past and toward the sea of gold. She never had anyone tell her she was beautiful before, so she didn't know how to react being told such, though it wasn't a direct comment, she knew it was her Loki was referring to.

Feeling much more relaxed now, her death grip on Loki's hand loosened, and having the freedom of his right arm, he wrapped it too around Dianne's waist, her resting her arms over his as they sat there, watching the clouds. It lasted only a few minutes, the clouds returning to their white color. Dianne sighed. She wished the moment could have lasted longer.

"Thank you for showing me," Dianne said, turning her head in attempt to look at Loki.

"I'm glad you managed to enjoy it," Loki said, "Instead of having a panic attack."

Dianne rolled her eyes, and was about to face forward again when Loki moved a hand to grab her by her chin, and turned her face to his again and pressed his lips to hers. Dianne melted in his arms, sighing into the kiss. She was completely addicted to him, and it was moments like these she wished would never end.

* * *

Rosemary knew Dianne left immediately after Bruce was finished with her tests, but she couldn't help but feel a little slighted as she entered back into the lab and seeing only Stark there. She knew Dianne would be with Loki, she seemed to spend any free time she had with him nowadays so she wasn't going to bother try finding her. As for Olyvia, well, Rosemary wasn't sure what she could be doing so she could see if she wanted to hang out in order to pass the time. Otherwise…well, she would have to work on homework. She needed Olyvia's help on it anyway so it seemed she would be spending time with her anyway.

As she was about to step through the lab doors though, Stark stopped her.

"Rosemary, could I speak with you a moment?"

Backtracking, she walked backwards over to the desk Stark was working at, "Yes?"

"I'm sort of helping out with the training rooms, making sure we're exercising every bit of your powers as we can, but…I was thinking, with your help, I could make it work better," Stark said.

"Your point?" Rosemary asked.

"You know your sisters better than anyone," Stark began, "So you know their weaknesses. I was wondering what those were."

Rosemary smirked. She could see where Stark was going with this, and it sounded fun.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello peoples.**

**harrylee94: Rosemary can be quite the trickster, especially if she has Stark helping her out. And Loki and Dia really do have a really strong bond. I feel Loki definitely needs one, someone he can trust completely.**

**Meanxruki: Trying to add more Loki. Really I am.**

**RipplesofAqua: I loved the poke war myself. Luckily the enemy never thinks about tickling as a legitimate attack strategy so she's safe. At least from them. Their fight though I hoped to show how comfortable they are with each other now.**

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

Bruce took only a few days to go through the results from the PET Scans of the two girls, and the muscle sample Olyvia provided for him. For Dianne and Rosemary, they showed more brain activity than normal, using much more of the brain processes than any normal human. This explained their abilities, they were somehow using different parts of their brain to manipulate their bodies to do their specific abilities. Bruce was sure that, if they put their mind to it, they could learn other skills. The tissue sample explained Olyvia's sheer strength as well. The muscle tissue was constructed in such a way that she could hold more weight, with less muscle. That was why she wasn't extremely bulky. She still was considerably bulkier than any normal girl, but less so than Steve or Thor. Bruce got a PET Scan from her as well after those results came back, and found she too had more brain capacity like her sisters, hers focused on more on the right hemisphere, the creative side of the brain, which explained her musicality.

The following week the girls' training time was decreased, but it was that much more intense to make up for it. They were put into a different training room, made to look like a woodland area, that the whole group would be training in, comprised of two different teams fighting against each other. Loki was usually put on the girls' team, since the others didn't want him on theirs. The girls didn't complain, that way they didn't have him shooting at them with his magic. Last time Olyvia was hit with it, she couldn't feel her hands for two hours. To make things more difficult, traps were set all throughout. Olyvia triggered them the most, due to how klutzy she was, plus if Rosemary stepped on one, she just quickly teleported away and Dianne flew just out of the way, if she was fast enough. After day three of being caught in the traps, Olyvia was getting sick of it, being hung upside down by one foot, blood rushing to her head.

"How did we get here?" Olyvia asked Dianne with a heavy, resigned sigh. Dianne happened to get snagged as well that day.

"Well, you stepped on a trap, as did I," Dianne said.

"I mean, how did we get _here_, on this carrier thing and as government agents?" Olyvia reiterated.

"Oh, well firstly a Norse God landed in our town, you shot him and he came to live with us for a while, bringing people looking for him who then wanted us to join them to help them fight against evil because we are awesome," Dianne replied, "Does that explain it?"  
"I don't feel awesome right now," Olyvia said, "I'm hanging by a foot for crying out loud."

And only to add more insult to injury, a practice arrow hit her in the side, quickly followed by another.

"Ow! Clint, you are asking for it," Olyvia shouted.

"You have to get down first," Clint taunted, firing another practice arrow and hitting her in the shin.

"Okay, that's it," Olyvia growled, pulling herself up to where she could grab the rope wrapped around her ankle, and pulling out a dagger from the sheath on her leg, cut the rope.

Since she still had a hold of the rope, she didn't drop down on her head, instead her legs swinging down. Putting away the dagger first, Olyvia then dropped down, and shot a glare at her sister as she calmly floated in the air working on untying the rope from her ankle. She only thought it a little unfair.

Sneaking over to the other team's "base" she found Clint and they fought for quite some time before he ended up victorious, and Olyvia was sent to the "dead room" as Stark liked to call it. He was usually the first one in there though, oddly enough, even though he was a seasoned fighter.

After the team practice was lunch, then personal training for the girls and they were brought to yet another room where they were to be run through, that had traps galore. Dianne and Rosemary weren't allowed to fly or teleport over some of the more difficult areas, or ones that required a great sense of balance, otherwise they wouldn't be learning much of anything. They were allowed to use their powers only if they fell. Clint provided something for the girls to dodge through the obstacle course, his job being to shoot them as a distraction and for them to learn to dodge. Natasha could go through the entire course without being hit by a single arrow and without falling. It was something the girls figured they would never learn to do.

Dianne was first to go through the course, which most of it was over fifteen feet above the ground. Bruce was on standby inside the room, in case he was needed if someone fell, though he didn't worry too much when it was Dianne or Rosemary. It was Olyvia he worried about. Everyone knew she was clumsy. In fact, the group was unsure on whether to nickname her she-hulk, which she absolutely hated, or klutz, another name she disliked, but tolerated. Stark suggested Livid-Livy once, but no one cared for the play on words.

As Dianne worked her way through one area of the course, she moved as carefully as she could, not having to worry about Clint shooting her since she was inside a small cubicle sort of thing and he didn't have a clear shot. She just needed to worry about traps, and she knew there would be some in here. It was dark, but she knew she was nearing the exit, when she heard faint plopping sounds, one she was all too familiar with, and it felt like something was landing on her head and shoulders. Then she felt the creepy crawly tickling sensation and that was all it took to push her over the edge.

From the viewing room, the team jumped when they heard a blood curdling scream, and Loki almost ran to the door into the obstacle arena, panic stricken as to what was causing Dianne to scream like that. Since it was only training, he figured that it couldn't be anything deadly. Harmful though, that was another story entirely.

Dianne continued screaming as she flew out of the room, and the others couldn't see what was causing her to writhe and…well, dance around as she was. Clint wasted no time in firing the practice arrows at her, and when Dianne was hit in the back, she turned and ran across the thin beam that lead to the next part of the obstacle course, barely making it to the other side and leaping behind some cover. Hearing sniggering, everyone looked over to where the sound was coming from, to see it was Stark. Then it all clicked in Olyvia's head.

"Wait a second, you were in charge of the traps," Olyvia said.

"Indeed I was."

"What did you do?" Olyvia asked.

"I am not allowed to divulge any details," Stark said, "Can't give you an unfair advantage."

With a groan, Olyvia turned her attention back to Dianne's progress through the course. Needless to say, Olyvia was not looking forward to her turn.

Dianne fell a few times during the course, having to go back to the very beginning and go through it all over again. She did not look happy having to go through the first area multiple times. When she finally finished she came rushing into the viewing room, doing that funky little writhing dance again.

"Eeeewwwwuugggh bleeeeh," Dianne grimaced as she slapped at her whole body and shook her head.

"The black spot?" Olyvia asked as she turned around in a circle and patted down the front of her body before acting like she spit on the floor.

"Shower, I need to take a shower _now_," Dianne said as she hurried through the room, kicking Stark in the shin as she passed by.

"Dianne, what's wrong?" Olyvia asked.

She said nothing, instead running out of the room like a cat jumping out of a bathtub and was gone in an instant.

"Um…Livy, look by your foot," Rosemary said.

Glancing down, Olyvia saw a black spider by her right foot, and as an automatic reaction, squished it before she realized where it came from. Whipping her head back up, she looked over to Stark in horror.

"You didn't."

"I did."

"You are horrible!"

"And it's your turn," Stark said, motioning for her to leave, "So go."

Olyvia whimpered before pulling her hair out from its ponytail and redoing it in a bun. She did _not_ want any spiders getting stuck in her hair.

"I hate you Stark," Olyvia moaned as she headed out into the room.

"Just go through the obstacle course," Stark said through the intercom so she could hear him.

"You go through the obstacle course," Olyvia rebutted, her voice sounding right behind Stark and making him jump.

Rosemary snickered and Stark flushed the lightest shade of pink in embarrassment.

"I hate it when she does that," Stark grumbled. She had done it a few times already during other training sessions to try tricking him of her actual position.

Going through the obstacle course, Olyvia was hesitant to go into the room that Dianne came screaming out of. It was dark in there, so she couldn't see what was on the walls, floor or ceiling. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the sounds in there, trying to block out the rock music Stark had blaring in the background, and amplifying the sounds to herself in order to locate where they were coming from. The sound she was hearing sounded a lot like one of those scenes in a movie where it had a ton of bugs crawling all over, and what was worse, the location of the sound was all over, not in one place, but there were definitely more on the ceiling. How did Stark get so many anyway? Shaking her head, she thought over how she was going to do this. Running right through would be her best bet, even if there were more traps in there, but she was going to chance it. So doing just that, about halfway through she heard a pop, and something hitting her in the left side, and hard. Upon exiting the room, she looked down to see bright pink paint on her. Ugh, great. Pink.

"Someone triggered the paintball trap," Stark's voice taunted through the speakers.

Olyvia didn't have time to let Stark's comments bother her, having to quickly dodge Clint's arrows, and only barely managing to dodge one. It was time to move across the beam. Luckily it wasn't too great of a distance so Olyvia leapt from the middle and landed on the other side, since she was about to fall anyway. Scrambling for cover, she was hit by one more arrow in the leg.

"You know, we should make them not use a limb Clint has hit with an arrow," Stark commented to Natasha.

"It's something to consider," Natasha replied.

"You've overdone it enough already Stark," was Steve's opinion about Stark's new idea.

"Oh, you don't even know the half of it," Stark said with a grin.

Olyvia was almost to the halfway point of the obstacle course, coming to perhaps the most challenging part for her. It was another beam, this one being thirty feet across, and having only an inch and a half of beam to walk on. It was also the highest point, being twenty-five feet above the thick mattress place below it. Starting out across it, Olyvia was only eight feet out when the music suddenly changed to something that sounded like someone's first try at violin. Olyvia cringed. The sound of anything off-key our out of tune made her squirm like nothing else. There were times when she thought it would even kill her due to her being so in tune with music herself.

From her sudden, and off-centering movement, Olyvia went careening down onto the mat, continuing to writhe as Stark only increased the volume. Unable to take anymore, she silenced the god awful sound, climbing off the mat and made a slicing motion at her neck, telling him to cut it off.

"Oh, that is only the beginning honey," Stark commented through the speakers.

Olyvia glared at him, and Stark went ahead and changed the music back to the classic rock.

"You are so evil," Rosemary said.

"Hey, if I am, then you are too," Stark rebutted, "You were the one who gave me this idea."

Steve, Thor and Natasha all looked down at Rosemary with a look of surprise on their face, making Rosemary shrink back.

"What? You act as if I sold them out or something."

"I hope for your sake, your sister doesn't find out you conspired with Stark on this," Steve said.

"I wasn't conspiring, I was…answering questions?" Rosemary replied uncertainly.

"You should probably keep quiet kiddo," Stark advised, "As hard as it is for you."

Rosemary glared at Stark for the slight, a tiny growl rumbling from her throat. She hated it when people teased her about talking so much.

When Olyvia reached the same point in the course where she fell, she focused all her attention on that stupid beam so when Stark turned on the screeching music, and she knew he would, it would have less of an effect. Moving as fast, and as slow as she could in order to keep her balance she started across, and once she reached halfway, the music was changed to the screeching out of tune violin again. Olyvia stumbled, but managed to grab onto the beam, taking a few hits from Clint's practice arrows before she pulled herself up and hurried the rest of the way across. Stark was messing around with the volume and pausing and starting it to try to shake her again, but she had already made it.

"Ha! In your face Stark!" Olyvia shouted before ducking out of the way of one of Clint's arrows.

Now it was just the rest of the course she needed to finish. Stark continued trying to distract Olyvia with the horrid…sounds. No one would even call it music. It was starting to annoy the others in the viewing room too. They were surprised Olyvia wasn't silencing it.

"Please, Stark, turn it off," Steve begged, covering his ears with his hands.

"I'm supposed to be making things difficult for Olyvia," Stark rebutted, "So no."

The others groaned, and Rosemary dropped her head in between her knees, covering her head with her arms and began humming to herself to drown out the other sounds. Loki went and hid himself in a corner, praying that Olyvia would finish the course and be done with it.

Amazingly, she didn't fall over the next few treacherous areas and dropped down from the final point, exhausted, but pleased.

"Best time yet! Yes!" she celebrated.

As she was heading back to the viewing room, checking herself for spiders, Stark changed the music, yet again out of spite, and Olyvia screeched to a halt before throwing herself down onto her back and began writhing on the floor.

"Noooo! Not the Numa Numa song!" she wailed.

"Whoa…didn't think she'd have that extreme of a reaction," Stark muttered.

Forcing herself back to her feet, Olyvia ran into the viewing room and slammed her hand down on the switch to kill the music.

"Okay, firstly, how the hell did you know about my extreme hate for that song?" Olyvia asked.

Stark didn't say anything, but it didn't take a genius to figure it out. Turning around stiffly, her jaw clenched, Olyvia narrowed her eyes at her sister who was trying to look as innocent as possible as she inched her way to the door.

"You traitor!" Olyvia screamed as she ran at her sister.

Rosemary screamed as she took off running to the start of the obstacle course, hoping to lose her sister, but Olyvia wasn't going to give up easily. Steve went to go to try to stop them when Stark grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Wait," Stark said, "Let's just see what happens."

When Rosemary and Olyvia appeared out in the open again, they both had a few pink paint splotches on them, but it was as they crossed the first beam that they could see a distinct difference between Olyvia's first time through. In her attempt to get Rosemary, she was doing all sorts of acrobatics to hit her, and either consciously, or unconsciously avoided every arrow fired at her. It wasn't just Olyvia who was doing well though, Rosemary was doing much better as well. She may have been a little hesitant during training with fighting, but here she wasn't holding back, fighting back when she needed to, and doing her best to stay out of her sister's reach by doing all sorts of jumps and acrobatics.

"I think we've discovered how to train these girls," Stark commented to Natasha.

"That appears to be the case," Natasha agreed.

* * *

Once the girls got out from the obstacle course, Olyvia's anger diminished quite a bit, she and Rosemary spent a good five minutes squishing spiders on each other, just as an excuse to hit the other. Once they were finished, Natasha sent them off to shower. They had done enough training that day, they could spend the rest of the day however they wanted. They earned that right.

Being so busy with the training, the girls hardly realized how fast the time flew by, save when they discovered they could have their weekly call to their mother, and before they knew it, it was already the end of October, and also Halloween. Stark put up decorations in his lab, just to irritate Fury, since he didn't encourage the festivities. He believed it was unnecessary, while Stark did, since he loved ruffling Fury's feathers.

Since it was Halloween, Olyvia was feeling rather mischievous herself and was planning on a little prank to pull on Stark, since he picked on her the most. Just last week he wouldn't shut up about the she-hulk nickname, and she would've shown him just how capable she was of that nickname, had Steve not snatched her before she reached Stark and pulled her away. She could have easily gotten away from Steve, but he reminded her that, even though it was Stark, they shouldn't fight amongst each other. So today Olyvia was going to get even by way of prank.

Stark was in his lab, working on some modifications to his suit. The last time he and Rosemary were sparring, she shouted at him, and because he was in his suit, it only amplified it. He explained it to the others as that sensation of putting a metal pan on your head and banging on it with metal spoons. With JARVIS's help, he was figuring out a way to damper that effect, or cancel it out completely, messing around with mechanics similar to how Olyvia's sound ability worked. As he was working, he paused when he heard a sound bounce around the room. It sounded like wet, gasping breathing. Looking around, he didn't see anything that could possibly be making that sound.

"Toooooonyyyyy," a rasping voice sounded through the room.

Stark jumped, wondering how whatever was making the sound knew his name. Then he felt very stupid when he remembered something. Olyvia could manipulate sound.

"Funny Livy," Stark said to the room, "You can stop now."

Stark couldn't help but shudder when a laugh bounced around the room. It was one creepy sounding laugh.

"Livy? We do not know this Livy you speak of."

"Nice try, but I know it's you Livy," Stark said, "Now I'm trying to work so if you could just—."

Stark wasn't able to finish when he nearly jumped out of his skin, letting out the smallest shout of fright, when Olyvia's cat suddenly dropped down in front of him, bristled up and hissed at him. Stark automatically held up his hand, and if he were wearing his suit, the cat would have been vaporized. Hearing laughter, Stark looked up to see Olyvia halfway out of an air vent, laughing hysterically.

"I knew it was you," Stark growled, using a ruler to poke the cat so she jumped off his desk.

"Your face," Olyvia guffawed, "Oh, priceless. Never thought you to be so jumpy Stark."

"That was your intent though, wasn't it?"

"Yes, yes it was," Olyvia said through her laughter, slipping a little further out of the air vent, "And it went perfectly. Oh that was beautiful. I love Halloween."

"Don't tell me you're going to dress up in a costume," Stark said, "As much as I'd enjoy seeing what you come up with, I don't think Fury would be thrilled about it."  
"Yeah, I saw his reaction to you decorating your lab, which I like, by the way," Olyvia said as she began to climb further out of the air vent.

"Thank you."

Olyvia stopped as her hips hit the opening, and after a few seconds of squirming, sighed heavily. Curse her womanly hips. She had this problem moving through the series of vents to get here, but now getting out, it was seeming impossible. With a mighty shove, she popped out, much faster than she expected, and had to react quick to avoid landing on her face. She flipped in the air, and landed on her feet, barely, in a crouched position.

"Natural twenty!" Olyvia exclaimed as she jumped straight back up, pumping her fists into the air.

"What?"

Olyvia blushed in embarrassment, and dropped her arms, "Oh um…j-just a term from…a game… I played."

Stark raised a questioning eyebrow, "What game?"

"Where is Whisper?" Olyvia asked, genuinely confused, but also trying to change the subject.

"I see what you're trying to do," Stark accused, "Now fess up Livy, what game?"

"How long has your lab door been open?" Olyvia asked.

"Uh…"

Olyvia made a quick sweep of the room before taking off out the door, calling for her cat.

"I'll get an answer from her later," Stark muttered before going back to his work.

* * *

Once finding her cat and returning her to the bedroom, Olyvia wandered through the helicarrier. Though it was her day off, she wasn't in the mood for drawing or any other hobby. She could always train on her own, that was always an option. That was what Dianne was doing, she saw her and Loki earlier that morning and asking where they were going, Dianne replied that they were going to train. Dianne felt she needed a little more work on a few things, and it was something she could do with Loki. She got frustrated with him at times though. He would always hold back, and Dianne felt she couldn't learn with him doing that.

Pondering over what to do, Olyvia heard the pounding of running footsteps behind her so turning around she saw that it was Rosemary.

"Livy, finally found you," Rosemary said breathlessly. She must have been running around for a while for her to be out of breath, "I know it's our day off, but I was wondering if you'd train with me today."

"Sure, I have nothing else to do," Olyvia agreed.

"Great, meet you down in the gym."

Olyvia headed back to her room and changed into a pair of black sweatpants and a red t-shirt, since she wasn't required to wear her suit, and headed down to the gym. Of course, Steve was there, as was Loki, Dianne, Thor, Clint and Natasha. It seemed the only ones on the team who weren't there were Stark and Bruce, the two scientist busy in their labs.

"Training on a day off?" Steve asked as Olyvia and Rosemary walked past him towards some mats, "Must be the end of the world."

"I take offense to that," Olyvia said, "I've trained with you on days off before."

Steve shrugged, "That's true. But isn't it the end of the world anyway?"

"Feels like it sometimes," Olyvia said, and she would have stayed longer to chat, but Rosemary grabbed her hand and drug her over to the mats where they would be training.

Rosemary really didn't have a chance against Olyvia as they worked on their martial arts training. Rosemary was sort of being tossed all over the place, but since she was fairly good with the martial arts herself, she landed on her feet each time. Their sparring attracted Thor's attention, who wandered over to watch how they did. Rosemary called it quits after half an hour, wanting a break from being her sister's punching bag.

"But now I'm just warmed up," Olyvia said jokingly.

Rosemary groaned in exhaustion as she drug herself away.

"If you wish to spar, I shall go against you," Thor said, stepping forward.

Olyvia eyed Thor warily. She knew he could pack quite a hit, and that he was very strong. But what the heck, she hadn't fought against him one-on-one yet, why not give it a shot.

"I may regret saying this, but as long as you don't hold back," Olyvia said.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Steve said, overhearing the conversation.

"You worry too much Steve," Olyvia said.

"Are you sure about this Olyvia?" Thor asked.

Olyvia nodded, "Let's get started shall we?"

* * *

Loki and Dianne had moved to a training room next to the gym in order to train their abilities where they wouldn't chance hitting anyone else. Dianne had acquired a small bag full of pebbles, a "gift" from Stark, so she could practice her powers over explosives in a safer manner against her spar buddy. Again, she could tell Loki was holding back, and she was starting to get frustrated.

"Loki, honestly, if you worry about hurting me, imagine how much worse you'd feel if I get hurt in actual battle because you didn't throw all that you could at me," Dianne almost growled, clearly irritated.

"I can seriously hurt you Dianne, I don't want to risk it," Loki rebutted.

"I'm not holding anything back against you!" Dianne exclaimed, throwing three pebbles at him that exploded simultaneously as they made contact with a force field created by his scepter, something S.H.I.E.L.D had provided for him when he became part of the team.

"Which is the exact reason we're training," Loki quipped, smirking at her.

Dianne definitely growled this time as she flew towards him and engaged him in hand-to-hand combat, before kicking off into the air, the pebbles she had dropped exploding around him and causing him to fly back a short ways. As he recovered from the blast, Dianne flew back down, hitting Loki and taking him down to the ground. Grabbing his scepter, she pressed it against his chest to pin him down.

"I'm trying my hardest, you should be trying _your_ hardest," Dianne said.

"I am though," Loki said, "I'm trying my hardest to not hurt you, keep you safe."

Dianne sighed in frustration, "Nothing I say will change your mind, will it?"

"No," Loki said.

"Not even if I can best you?"

Loki smiled, "You can't best me."

"What is this then?" Dianne asked, pushing the scepter down a little harder against his chest.

"I haven't surrendered now have I?"

Dianne glared at him for a few seconds before her gaze softened, "You know…I do believe I know a way to get you to surrender."

"Oh do tell, I am ever so curious to know."

Bending down, Dianne kissed him, and she could feel him just relax completely. Loki began to mentally curse himself for allowing his body to react like this. It was unfair, for her to have this sort of power over him. Still, he didn't want her to stop, and when she began to pull away, he reached up and grabbed her face, and pulled her back down to his lips. He could feel her smiling, obviously pleased by his reaction.

"Now do you surrender?" Dianne asked, pulling away and looking down at Loki in amusement at his serene face.

"No," Loki replied.

"No?" Dianne asked in surprise, "I thought that was a surefire way to get you to surrender."

"You think I'm stupid?" Loki asked, "I know once I say yes you're going to stop."

"Oh, now I see how it is," Dianne teased, "Someone attention starved?"

"Famished," Loki replied.

As he went to pull her back into another kiss, the sound of cement cracking and what sounded like boulders falling startled them, causing Dianne to jump to her feet. Loki groaned in frustration for having been lost the chance to kiss Dianne again, and got to his feet as well. Looking over, the two found a hole in the wall between their training room and the gym, around ten feet tall and four feet wide.

"Ow…," Olyvia's voice came from the rubble.

"Livy?" Dianne asked shrilly as she ran over to the rubble, where Steve already was.

"Olyvia? Olyvia are you alright?" Steve asked worriedly as he moved rubble off of her.

"I'm fine," Olyvia said as she pushed herself onto her feet, "Really."

Her wavering and falling over though didn't convince Steve, who caught her before she could hit the rubble and hurt herself even more.

"Since when were there two of you Steve?" Olyvia asked as she looked up at Steve.

"You are most definitely not alright," Steve said, "I told you this was a bad idea."

"I apologize Olyvia," Thor said, "I should have known better."

"I thought it was fun," Olyvia said.

"I'm taking her to Dr. Banner," Steve said, standing up straight and adjusting Olyvia in his arms to where he was holding her bridal style.

"He's not a neurologist though, he won't be able to tell you what's wrong with her head for her to have done this in the first place," Rosemary said.

"I'm not crazy," Olyvia pouted, and began to squirm in Steve's arms, "And I can walk Steve. My legs aren't broken."

Steve said nothing in response, instead just continued on his way to the door. Seeing that it was a pointless battle, Olyvia sighed heavily, and let her head drop backwards, instantly regretting it as pain erupted in her head, it felt like she had split her skull. Groaning in pain, she lifted her head back up and rested it against Steve's chest, where it felt much better. Okay, so fighting a demi-god was a bad idea, but hey, at least she got some decent practice.

Reaching Banner's lab, Steve strode right on in, making a beeline to Bruce once he spotted him.

"What happened?" Bruce asked when he saw the state Olyvia was in.

"Thor kind of hit her through a wall," Steve replied.

Bruce made an "ouch" face, and motioned for Steve to follow him, "I'm assuming she hit hard?"

"I did say _through_ a wall, right?"

"Right," Bruce muttered, "I should take x-rays and see if anything is broken."

"If anything is, it'll be my patience," Olyvia sighed, "I'm feeling much better now. You can put me down Steve."

"You just went through a ten inch concrete wall, I doubt you're feeling better already," Steve argued.

"It's getting better," Olyvia said in a British accent.

Steve looked back over to Bruce, his countenance one of worry. He thought Olyvia may have hit her head too hard. Bruce just shook his head slightly.

"She was quoting a line from a movie, Steve," Bruce explained, "She's still sane."

"As sane as she was to accept to fight a demi-god?" Steve asked.

"Yeah…I never said she was perfectly sane," Bruce replied.

"I am still here you guys," Olyvia said, frowning at both of them.

Bruce instructed Steve to set Olyvia down on a bedlike table, and then asked for him to go. Steve hesitated to leave, but did as he was told, leaving to allow Bruce to do his job. Taking the x-rays, Bruce waited for the pictures to develop and took a look at them, making Olyvia stay on the bed the whole time. After looking over the x-rays over a dozen times, he approached Olyvia.

"Amazingly, you don't have any broken bones," Bruce said.

"I told you I was fine," Olyvia said.

"Though you do have a mild concussion," Bruce added.

"That's probably why I have a headache. So, can I go now?"

Bruce nodded, cautioning her to take it easy. Promising she would, she slowly got up and headed out of the lab. As she walked through the doors, she didn't expect to see Steve waiting there for her.

"I'm fine, just like I said," Olyvia said before Steve could ask.

"You weren't acting it," Steve rebutted.

"That's kind of because I had just gone through the wall," Olyvia said as she walked past Steve, on her way back to her room, "I was a little disoriented."

"A little? You couldn't even stand," Steve said as he started to follow her down the hall.

"You wouldn't let me try," Olyvia rebutted.

"Because you probably would have hurt yourself."

"But that is life, we get hurt and we learn from our experiences. And since when were you my mother?" Olyvia asked exasperatedly, stopping and turning around to face him, "Why do you worry so much?"

Steve stopped as well, but stayed silent, staring intently into Olyvia's blue eyes with his own. After a few seconds of silence Olyvia just sighed, shaking her head as she turned back around.

"I'm going to my room to rest," Olyvia said, "I'll see you later."  
Steve just watched her as she left, not bothering to follow after her. Once she disappeared, Steve said, in barely a whisper, the answer to her question.

"It's because I'm in love with you."

* * *

**Virtual cookies to anyone who knows what game the natural twenty was in reference to.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm not exactly happy with this chapter, but it gets things moving so…bear with me.**

**harrylee94: Tabletop RPG's but yes you were on track, so virtual cookies for you!**

**sam-makes-pancakes: XD I feel the love, and thank you.**

**TwilightAnimeLover21: Thank you so much, and yay! Captain America has another fan!**

**Meanxruki: I give you virtual cookies for putting up with my lack of Loki-ness. I'm getting better! …I hope.**

**Dr. Huff-Puff: No, Olyvia didn't hear him. Can't make it **_**that**_** easy. And hello, and thank you, your review made me smile. And I love Dianne and Loki together too. They're so adorable!**

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

With Halloween over, Stark reluctantly took down the decorations in his lab, since Fury wouldn't stand to have them up any longer. Not much training was done the next couple of days, since the helicarrier crew were working on fixing the hole Olyvia made in the wall, as well as Olyvia taking it easy with the training, mainly because Steve insisted. She was feeling as good as new by the third day after the incident, but still with training, Steve wanted her to take it easy. Olyvia was started to become frustrated with him, telling him he needed to stop babying her, she was an adult and could take care of herself. They got into a mild argument due to this, and Stark ended up splitting up the fight before anything was said that could never be taken back. He could tell everyone was starting to get on each other's nerves, due to being stuck on the helicarrier. It was time to get out and get some fresh air for once. Stark knew Fury wouldn't allow them to just leave the carrier so taking a great blow to his pride and ego, he went and asked Fury if the team could have a night out to take a breather from all the stress they were under. Stark was more than surprised when Fury okayed it. He too could see the team was getting restless, and perhaps some time off the helicarrier would do them some good. Though, he wanted everyone to keep an extra sharp eye on Loki, in case he tried to escape or cause trouble. Fury was very pleased with how well behaved Loki had been, which was the only reason why he was allowing him to go out as well.

No one knew they were to be going out of course, until Stark came to get them personally around three o'clock, telling them to get ready for an outing. Rosemary was the first of the three girls Stark went to get after rounding up the other Avengers, save Loki because he was almost always with Dianne anyway.

Hearing a knock at her door, Rosemary shoved her homework aside and climbed off the bed, grateful to have an interruption in her work. T.C followed her over to the door, yowling loudly, her yowl breaking and sounding very pitchy. It was a horrible sound, but Rosemary had gotten used to it. Olyvia, however, cringed every time she did it, and threatened to kill the cat to end her misery.

"Oh, hi Tony," Rosemary said when she saw the billionaire at her door. The two got along surprisingly well, and were on a first name basis while Dianne, Olyvia, and a handful of their team still called him by his last name.

"We're going into the city tonight," Stark said, "So wear something warm. It gets chilly on the east coast."

"And wet," Rosemary added.

"That too," Stark agreed, "We're all going to meet in the hangar at around five thirty, so that will give you plenty of time to get ready."

"What are we going to do?" Rosemary asked, "Do I have to wear anything specific? Like fancy or no?"

"Nothing fancy," Stark assured her, "Just…warm."

Stark scooted away from the door as T.C stuck her head out to sniff him. He wasn't fond of cats so this wasn't surprising. After a few seconds of sniffing though, T.C sneezed.

"Ugh, that is just…disgusting," Stark grimaced, pulling his foot the cat just sneezed all over even further away.

"Sorry about that," Rosemary apologized, coaxing T.C further back into the room with her foot, "But that's T.C. My sniveling, sneezing, little snozzmonster."

"I'm just going to act like that made sense and move on to the next room," Stark said, "See you at five thirty."

* * *

Olyvia was lying on her bed, writing in her journal and listening to music on her laptop, when there was a knock at her door. As she walked over to it, she wasn't sure if she wanted it to be Steve or not. He had started to become rather frustrating over the last few weeks. He was still her friend, but sometimes he just made her want to rip out her hair. Opening the door and finding it was Stark though, she wasn't sure how she felt. The two of them still didn't get along all too well. His visit was brief though, just informing her about a trip to the city they would be taking that night, and to be ready and in the hangar at five thirty.

It was then onward to find Dianne, since she wasn't in her room. He eventually found her and Loki, just relaxing in one of the lounges provided for staff, talking about books, or at least Dianne was trying to while Loki was trying to distract her, and was succeeding for the most part. Stark quickly made his spiel and left, not wanting to witness anymore affection from the two. It just made him queasy because one, it was sappy romantic stuff, and two, it was Loki.

Dianne excused herself and returned to her room so she could get herself ready, telling Loki he should do the same. Going through her dresser, she pulled out a handful of items of clothing and laid them out across the bed, wondering what to wear. Since it was going to be cold she knew she was at least going to wear her dark brown, tan and forest green plaid peacoat, so she just needed something to match. The choice of pants to wear was easy, setting aside a pair of khaki pants, but then came the difficult part. Shirt. What shirt should she wear? Sifting through what she had on the bed, she returned to the dresser and began to dig more. She shouted in victory when she pulled out a grey-green shirt, where the top back half was lace, the remainder solid cotton. It was casual, yet nice enough for a simple outing. When she looked at her shoes though, she ran into a problem. She only had her boots, and tennis shoes. She had nothing that would look like it fit the outfit. Luckily she had a sister close to her size. Hopefully one on her many pairs of shoes would work, and fit nicely.

* * *

"You want to borrow a pair of my shoes?" Olyvia asked in confusion as her sister stood in her doorway.

"All I have are my boots and tennis shoes Livy. Surely you have something I can wear."

"You do realize my feet are about twice as wide as yours right?"

"I do, but still."

"And that I wear elevens, you wear what…nines?"

Dianne's eyes widened to the size of serving platters, "Eleven? Since when?"

"Since two years ago," Olyvia replied, "You didn't notice that I stopped shopping in the ten and half section did you?"

"I guess not," Dianne muttered, "But it's still worth a try. Let me see what you have."

"You're not allowed to wear my pumps," Olyvia automatically said as she let her sister into the room.

"Like I'd want to," Dianne said, "I don't want to be stuck wearing those for hours."

"Which is why I decided not to wear them," Olyvia said with a sigh as she plopped down on her bed, which was also covered in clothes, obviously going through the same process as her sister, "I'm going to go with my red plaid flats."

Dianne wasn't paying much attention to what her sister was saying now that she was sifting through her sister's shoes. She didn't realize her sister had so many, she must have had more packed away somewhere that she didn't see when she helped her unpack. She had enough shoes to put on the feet of a third world country practically. As boyish as her sister may have appeared with her stature, she was the most girly out of them all. The only thing girly that she absolutely hated, was pink. Dianne never before had seen anyone with such a hate for pink. Even being the artist that Olyvia was, she hated every single shade of pink, save one, and that was only when it was a sunset. Use that same color on a shirt though and she would hate it.

Scanning over the shoes, she grabbed a pair of black flats. All the others were either too colorful or heels, and she definitely wasn't going to wear heels. Slipping them on, they were slightly wide, but other than that, they fit rather well.

"I'm borrowing these," Dianne informed her sister as she headed back to the door with them on.

"Make sure you return them."

"I will, don't worry," Dianne assured her sister.

Once Dianne left, Olyvia looked back at her own pile of clothes all over the bed. While her sister's color scheme was mostly earthy tones, Olyvia wore jewel tones and a majority of her clothing was a ruby red. Out of all the shirts on the bed, over half were red, there were a few sapphire blue shirts, turquoise, jade green, black, dark purple and one white shirt that said _Zombies Love Nerds_. She didn't wear white often, since she seemed to stain it every time she wore it. Putting all but the red shirts back, she debated over which one to wear with her skinny jeans she already picked out. After another fifteen minutes she finally chose a plain, bright red three quarter sleeve fitted top with a scoop neck. As for a jacket, she would wear her red peacoat. With her ensemble picked out, she looked at the clock, which read four eighteen. She may as well get dressed now.

* * *

When the team members began slowly arriving at the hangar, except Bruce because he didn't think it a good idea if he went into the city, all were surprised to find Stark already there. They expected him to be late, as always. He must have really wanted to get off the helicarrier. When Olyvia arrived and saw Steve, she couldn't help but blush. He looked really handsome in the blue and white checkered button up shirt he wore and leather jacket. Due to her nerves bubbling up, she averted her gaze and walked over to Rosemary, who was wearing her own blue plaid peacoat to match her blue outfit, to hang out with her while they waited for the others to arrive. Steve noticed how Olyvia avoided him, and couldn't help but wonder if he had done something wrong, and if he did, what it was so he could try fixing it. He didn't want their friendship falling apart because of it.

The last to arrive were Thor and Loki, dressed in modern clothing instead of their Asgardian garb. Thor wore casualwear while Loki looked a little more dressed up with a black, professional looking blazer jacket. Dianne quietly commented on how good he looked as he stood beside her. It really suited him.

The plan was to take a helicopter that Natasha and Clint would be piloting to a landing spot in the city, and from there they would go to wherever Stark had apparently already planned on going. Dianne and Olyvia certainly hoped it was a teenage friendly place since Rosemary was still only sixteen.

Now that everyone had arrived, they got into the helicopter, everyone having to get cozy with each other in order to fit. Olyvia tried to ignore the butterflies beating inside her stomach, trying to burst out as she was squished between Steve and Dianne, but being so close to Steve was making it very difficult. Luckily the ride didn't take too long, and they could see land within minutes after leaving the helicarrier. Dianne and Olyvia hadn't seen Rosemary so excited when she saw the statue of Liberty. So they at least knew they were in New York.

Natasha and Clint landed the helicopter at a S.H.I.E.L.D landing pad, and the group climbed out, and then followed Stark as he headed toward the road. The three girls knew they couldn't be in New York city itself, due to how there weren't that many people wandering about the streets, so they had to be on the outskirts of the city, in one of the smaller cities that consisted of the large metropolitan area. After walking for nearly half an hour, wandering into an area close to the water, Stark stopped outside of a large, busy building.

"Okay kids, you best behave yourselves," Stark said.

"A gaming center?" Dianne asked.

"Bowling!" Rosemary said excitedly.

"This was your grand idea Stark?" Natasha asked.

"Well, I couldn't take you to a bar because of miss underage here," Stark said, placing a hand on Rosemary's head.

"We don't drink anyway, so it's a good thing," Dianne said.

Stark whirled around to look at the two older sisters, "You don't drink?"

"No, we don't," Olyvia replied.

"Weird," Stark muttered, "So are we just going to stand around here and wonder about my choice in venue, or are we going inside?"

Stark didn't wait for the others to reply, and headed on in. With a shrug, the others followed. They may as well see what this place had to offer.

* * *

After hours of laser tag, and a few games of bowling, the girls were starting to wear themselves out. They were having a blast though, spending time with each other. Dianne showed Loki how to play Laser tag, and he struggled a bit the first five games, but then started getting the hang of it. Of course, the master assassins were the best at the game, so they had to play on opposite teams.

Needing sustenance to keep going for a few more hours, the team gathered together in the restaurant that was part of the gaming center. It was also where the karaoke was being played, and Olyvia was miserable, suffering through drunks trying to sing along to their choice song.

"Someone kill me now," Olyvia groaned as yet another drunk got the karaoke microphone, "I have the worst headache."

"Drink some of this, it'll help," Stark said, pushing his pint over towards her. He was drunk too.

Olyvia made a face and pushed it back to him, "I'll pass."

Rosemary reached her hands around her sister and placed a hand over each ear, "Better?"

Olyvia groaned, and moved her sister's hands away, "Thank you for trying, but it's not really helping."

"You know what will help?" Dianne asked.

"Cutting off the power?" Olyvia guessed.

Dianne just shook her head, "If _you_ go up and take over the karaoke machine for a while. Then you wouldn't have to complain about drunken singers."

"Yeah! That's a good idea," Rosemary agreed, "You should go sing Livy."

Olyvia flushed red and pulled her jacket over her head to hide herself, "Okay, I stop complaining."

"No, really Livy, you should do it," Rosemary urged, grabbing onto her sister's arm and began shaking her, "You are a good singer, you won't embarrass yourself."

"Everyone will be looking at me," Olyvia argued, "I can't do it."

"Do it, do it, do it!" Rosemary began chanting, and Stark joined in just because it looked fun.

"Guys, guys, guys!" Steve shouted over them, quieting them down, "That's enough."

"Party pooper," Stark grumbled, "Here, how about we have a drinking competition Cap'n."

"You're already drunk Stark," Steve pointed out.

"I want to see if you can get drunk though."

Steve sighed in frustration, "We've been over this before Stark. I can't."

"You obviously haven't been drinking enough then," Stark slurred, "Let me buy you a few more."

Steve tried arguing, but it was useless, and a few more drinks were brought over to the table. The girls were feeling mighty uncomfortable, since everyone else was drinking, and the smell was absolutely overwhelming. They just wanted to get out of there. Olyvia glanced over to the karaoke machine, to find that no one was waiting in line to sing next. As much as she was uncomfortable having the spotlight on her, she would rather do that than be surrounded by people drinking. It wouldn't be very nice of her though to just abandon her sisters there so leaning over she whispered into Rosemary's ear.

"How would you feel about singing with me and getting away from the table?"

Rosemary thought about it for a few seconds before nodding, and Olyvia asked her to pass the message on to Dianne. She hesitated, since she was much more timid than the other two, but then taking another look at all those at the table, who were either drunk or well on their way, save Steve and Natasha, who had to go easy on the liquor since she would be the head pilot of the helicopter, she decided to go as well. So asking Steve to scoot out of the way, the three sisters slid out from their booth and without letting the others know where they were going, slunk off. Dianne waved goodbye to Loki, who returned it with an expression begging her not to leave him with these people. She gave him an apologetic smile before slipping away. Loki groaned. Being left alone with these people was not what he wanted.

Heading over to the karaoke machine, the three sisters debated over which song to play. They could have the choice of practically any song, and after discussing for a moment, Dianne suggested one, making Olyvia blush.

"You suggested that on purpose," Olyvia accused.

"What, because I know you have a super big crush on your American hero?" Dianne taunted.

"You like the song though, and we all know the lyrics, let's do it," Rosemary chimed in.

Olyvia took in a deep breath, "Okay, let's do it."

Telling the man running the karaoke machine which song they chose, he queued it up and the girls stepped up to the microphone of which they would have to share.

Over at the table, when the music began, Stark, being in his drunken state exclaimed, "I like this song. This should be our song."

"What song?" Steve asked. He had no clue as to what it was.

"It's called 'Holding out for a Hero'," Natasha explained to Steve, "And Stark, you'd like any song in your current state."

"That is not true," Stark argued.

When the singing started, the whole group visibly relaxed.

"Thank god, someone who can sing finally took over," Clint commented.

Loki's brow furrowed. The voices sounded familiar, so craning his head around, he looked over at the machine to find it was the Harris sisters. So that was where they went. Perhaps it was better that he didn't go with them. He wasn't the only one to notice them though.

"I didn't know the girls could sing," Natasha said.

"What?" Clint asked, turning slightly so he could see the machine, "Huh…wow, they're pretty good."

Steve turned around in his seat, his eye catching the three girls singing at the stand. He was in complete agreement with Clint, they were all really good singers. And despite Olyvia saying she didn't like the spotlight, she was singing the loudest, her voice almost drowning out the others. And she had a beautiful voice, Steve was just more in awe of her and the talent she had.

When the song was over, they actually received an applause, and the girls gave a quick bow before scurrying back to their table.

"Well that was fun," Olyvia said breathlessly once she was back in her seat, Steve sliding back in place after moving aside to let them in.

"I didn't know you guys could sing," Natasha said.

"Livy can sing," Rosemary said, "We just follow her lead."

"You guys can sing too," Olyvia said, "The only one in our family who can't is Dad."

"I can sing," Stark said.

"Oh please don't," Olyvia begged, "Please don't start."

Stark took in a deep breath, and was about to start singing when Clint slapped a hand over his mouth.

"How about another drink?" Clint asked.

Stark spoke against Clint's hand, who then removed it.

"I like the sound of that," Stark repeated.

"Yes, another!" Thor exclaimed, who had been rather quiet the whole evening until now, slamming his empty glass against the table.

Dianne jumped, since Thor was just on the other side of Loki, and she wasn't expecting him to do that, or how loud it would be. The table trembled from the blow, and Dianne was surprised his glass didn't shatter.

As more drinks were brought to the table, it didn't take long for things to start getting out of hand. Stark was being loud and obnoxious, and trying to get Steve to arm wrestle Thor, Steve refusing to do it and Thor thinking it sounded fun. Dianne could see chaos was going to erupt soon, and asked if people could scoot out of the way so she could get out, and tugged on Loki's hand, telling him to come with, which he more than happily obliged.

"Thank you," Loki sighed with relief.

"It was getting rather crazy over there," Dianne agreed, "I thought it would be best to be away when the ticking time bomb went off. They're just a disaster waiting to happen."

"That's an understatement."

Dianne slowed to a stop as they came closer to the game section of the building, "So any preference of what to do?"

"Honestly, I'd just like to get some fresh air and not have thousands of bright lights shining in my eyes," Loki said, "It's giving me a headache."

"Then let's take a walk outside," Dianne said, turning them to where they were facing the door, and the two headed out.

When they were hit by the cool New York air, Dianne let go of Loki's hand to pull her jacket tighter around her body, buttoning a few extra buttons, before slipping her arm in the crook of Loki's elbow. Pulling up close next to him, she rested her head on his shoulder, and the two walked down the sidewalk, away from the busy block. Dianne couldn't help but think of how normal of a couple they appeared to be, though they were anything but normal. They were as different as one could possibly get. But being different, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Not for each other.

* * *

Olyvia was wishing she had followed her sister away from the table, but she would have felt bad leaving Rosemary with the drunken adults. Olyvia had a splitting headache, and she was starting to become really tired so she didn't exactly want to take Rosemary to anymore games. It was way past her bedtime and she felt like she could fall asleep right in the booth they were in. Once Stark lost his argument with Steve on trying to get him to arm wrestle Thor, Stark challenged Clint, who accepted after a short debate, and the master assassin ended up winning all three out of three. Stark, who had to be completely smashed, wasn't very happy about losing, and in his flailing about, hit one of the drinks and sent it flying across the table and spilling all over Olyvia. Olyvia gasped in shock and froze as the alcoholic beverage hit her in the face and across her chest, and the whole table went silent.

"Sorry," Stark muttered after a few moments of silence.

He began piling up napkins and tried handing them over to her, but she had had enough.

"Stark…just don't," Olyvia said tersely.

Grabbing her own napkin, she wiped off her face before grabbing her jacket, and that was enough of a hint to Steve to move, and quick.

"I'm just going to wait outside for you guys until you're ready to go," Olyvia said, throwing her jacket over and arm and headed first to the restroom to clean up a little more.

Once she was gone, Steve glared at Stark.

"Way to go Stark."

"Of course you blame me," Stark grumbled.

"I think you've definitely have had enough to drink though," Clint said, taking away Stark's drinks that were in front of him.

Stark groaned disgruntledly as he tried reaching for them, only earning a slap on his hand from Natasha. She sort of felt like the mother tonight with this group, they were all acting like kids.

Rosemary scooted closer to Steve, "Excuse me Steve. I think I'm going to just uh…play a few more games before we go."

Getting out of her way, he let her go, and she moved rather quickly, obviously eager to be away from the others. Steve was sure she felt very uncomfortable around them. _He_ felt uncomfortable around the others with Stark this drunk, and Clint getting close to that. Steve couldn't tell if Thor was, though he seemed to be leaning a lot more on Natasha than he had at the beginning of their meal.

"You know what, I think I might go as well," Steve said, grabbing his jacket, "I'll see you guys later."

Natasha grimaced, her expression basically asking why he was leaving her with these children to handle on her own. Steve just didn't want to be around when she finally got fed up and dealt with them by using her martial art skills. The main reason he was leaving though was he wanted to be sure Olyvia was alright. It had been some time since she had disappeared so Steve was sure she had left the building by now, so pulling on his jacket he headed outside.

* * *

After walking almost halfway back to the helicopter, Dianne and Loki stopped at the far end of the marina, where it was almost silent. They could still hear the city sounds and the thrum of bass from a song far in the distance, but it was easy to ignore.

"Feeling better yet?" Dianne asked, looking up from where she was still resting her head on Loki's shoulder.

"I have for a while," Loki replied, "Thank you for the concern."

"Of course," Dianne replied, as if it were obvious that she would be concerned for him.

They fell back into silence, and Dianne rested her eyes as Loki lightly caressed the back of her hand. She was perfectly content just staying there, saying nothing. There really wasn't any reason to talk, just simply enjoy each other's company. Peeking her eyes open just slightly, Dianne glanced up at Loki, a small smile on her face. She felt so lucky to be here at this moment, with him. Two months ago, she never would have thought she would be in New York, and, technically, dating this wonderful man who was so kind and thoughtful of her. It was even crazier that this man happened to be Loki, a god in Norse Mythology, but those stories came from somewhere right. That also meant Loki happened to be really old, in a young body. Kind of like Steve, but…Loki was older. Dianne wasn't bothered by this though, because Loki looked so young. He was just wiser beyond the years he looked, that's how she thought of it. She cared for him greatly, but never having felt these feelings before, she wasn't sure what to make of them. Did she just really like Loki? Or did she love him?

"Do I fascinate you?" Loki suddenly asked.

Dianne's brow furrowed, "Huh?"

"You've been staring at me for the last few minutes," Loki explained, turning his head to look down at her.

"Oh…well I guess I am," Dianne replied, "Really, I am in awe of your greatness."

Loki rolled his eyes and turned his head forward again.

"That noble brow," Dianne went on teasingly, "Perfect nose and who could resist those green eyes of yours? They are just oh so fas—."

She didn't get to finish because Loki busied her lips with his own in an attempt to get her to stop talking, pulling his arm away from hers so he could turn to face her.

"Has anyone told you, you talk too much?" Loki asked lowly when he pulled away, gently resting his forehead against Dianne's.

"No, nobody has," Dianne replied, "But you know who does talk too much?"

Loki sighed, "Yes, I know, your sister."

"Which sister?" Dianne quizzed.

"Rosemary," Loki replied, "But if you think I'm going to kiss her to keep her quiet, you are sorely mistaken."

"Uh, I would _kill_ you if you tried," Dianne said, making a face of disgust, "And only because she is my _little_ sister, and only _sixteen_, while you are…what, a couple thousand years old?"

"More or less," Loki replied, "Why, does that bother you?"

Dianne shook her head, "No. Does it bother you?"

"Of course not," Loki replied, "Can't you tell?"

He pulled her back in for another kiss, sending shivers shooting down Dianne's spine. It was a mystery how he had this effect on her, but it was addicting and Dianne really couldn't get enough of it.

It was a perfect moment really, until it was ruined as Loki pulled away suddenly with a hiss, and Dianne was almost knocked backward when something hit her on the left side of her stomach, with a hot burning feeling that felt like it was eating away at her skin. Looking at Loki, she saw he had been hit too, in fact, whatever had hit him, had gone through and hit her.

She didn't have the chance to ask what was going on before three Skrulls leapt off the roof of a nearby building, one with a sort of laser gun in its hand, the other two with scepters, and charged them. Loki whirled around, ready to take them on, before realizing he didn't have his weapon. He only had his bare hands, and his magic to rely on, and neither could really keep the monsters at bay.

Loki went to intercept the creatures, when he was hit again, this time in the left shoulder, stopping him for a moment, which was enough that Dianne rushed past him, intent on intercepting the alien creatures as well.

"Dianne, no!" Loki cried, lunging forward to try to stop her.

She didn't listen of course, heading straight for the Skrull with the gun, and with a swing of her leg, knocked it right out of its hand. Grabbing onto the collar of its armor, she then kicked off from his chest, flying backwards towards Loki and landing lightly on her feet while the Skrull was sent off in the other direction. Loki went to go after it, but Dianne grabbed him and continued to retreat.

"We might want to distance ourselves," Dianne advised, moving as fast as she could dragging Loki behind her.

Loki instantly knew what was about to happen, and moved faster, putting enough distance between them and the Skrull before it exploded, sending body parts flying. Dianne didn't have time to gag at the falling debris as the other two Skrull caught up to them. One swung its bladed scepter at Dianne, and she would have been hit, had it not been for Loki jumping in the way, taking the hit himself. The blade sliced across his stomach, and had he been wearing his Asgardian garb, it wouldn't have done much damage, but because he was wearing this pathetic mortal clothing, it sliced clean through and wounded him severely.

"Loki!" Dianne screamed as she saw him cringe and the blood on the blade as the Skrull went in for another attack.

Loki tried to remain standing, but the pain and his own weight were too much for him, and he went crumpling to the ground. Reaching out with her arms, Dianne caught him, but she wasn't strong enough to hold up his dead weight, and struggled with pulling him back away as she ducked out of reach of the Skrull's blade. Setting Loki down as gently as she could but still move quickly, she kicked the one Skrull away, and engaged the other in battle. The first recovered quickly though, and charged her, swinging its scepter and Dianne tried to dodge, but didn't quite make it all the way, the blade making a superficial cut down her thigh, and cutting a pair of her favorite pants. Anger swelling inside her chest, she delivered another hard kick to the first Skrull's chest, before grabbing the other by the head and twisting, snapping its neck with a loud crack. Dianne shuddered at the sound, it was a little gross, before placing her hands on the armor and shoved the dead body at the other. Jumping away, she then covered Loki with her body as the alien then exploded a few seconds later.

She thought it was over, and was starting to turn around to be sure when the first Skrull, severely injured and half of his body burned and missing chunks, threw his scepter, which embedded into Dianne's left shoulder. With an agonized cry, she fell onto her back, her hand flying to grab the scepter so the weight of it wouldn't cause more damage. The Skrull was about to fall upon her when Loki jumped up, grabbed the Skrull, and lifting the dagger from the its hip, sliced it deeply across the neck, killing it instantly. Once it was down, he fell back to the ground, clutching at the wound across his stomach. Dianne ripped the scepter from her shoulder, tossing it aside before scrambling over to Loki.

"Oh god," Dianne gasped, "That…that doesn't look good."

"It really isn't," Loki said weakly.

"Come on, I'll take you back to the helicopter and then get the others," Dianne said, trying to help him back up.

After a few tries, Loki got to his feet, and Dianne slung one arm over her shoulders and helped him walk as they headed back to the helicopter. Once they reached it, Dianne set Loki down, trying to make him as comfortable as possible.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Dianne promised, "Just stay awake for me, alright?"

"I'll try," Loki replied quietly. He had become extremely pale from losing so much blood, and he was still bleeding rather heavily.

"Don't try, do it," Dianne said sharply, before giving him a quick kiss on the lips, "I'll be right back."

Turning back around, Dianne began running back toward the game building as fast as she could, hoping that she could find the others and get them back here to fly the helicopter to the helicarrier, before it was too late for Loki.

* * *

As Steve headed outside, he looked around for Olyvia, but not seeing her anywhere nearby, he thought for a few moments of where she may have possibly gone. Across the street and down a ways was a marina, which was much quieter, and the noise level of the game center seemed to have been bothering her, so he headed down there. Sure enough, after walking for five minutes, he saw Olyvia's silhouette against the water, her red jacket standing out amongst all the black and blue. He was probably only about twenty yards away when she turned around, somehow having heard him. He didn't think he was walking too loud.

"Oh, hey Steve," she said, trying to sound bright and chipper, but it was blatantly obvious that she was dead tired, "Did Dianne start the mass exodus or something?"

"Something like that, yeah," Steve replied, closing the distance between them and stood beside her, resting his forearms on the railing she was leaning against.

They stood there in silence for a few minutes, Olyvia just staring off into the distance, admiring the view. It wasn't anything magnificent, but it was beautiful in its own way, the city lights reflected in the water, and the serenity of it all. She missed the view from home though. Lifting her gaze, she looked up into the smog covered sky, and a lump began to form in her throat. It had been forever since she last saw stars. It hadn't really hit her until now, how homesick she was.

"Olyvia…are you okay?" Steve asked when Olyvia dropped her head, looking depressed.

"Sort of," Olyvia replied quietly, trying her best not to cry, "I'm just…homesick is all. I miss the trees, the stars, the sound of crickets, my horse, my dog…my mom and dad."

Olyvia's voice broke on the last few words, and she hastily wiped away the tears that began to spill over, and tried to swallow that lump in her throat. She didn't want to cry in front of Steve. It just wasn't a pretty sight, her crying.

"I'm sorry, for taking you away from all of that," Steve apologized.

"It was my choice," Olyvia said, "And I knew it would be hard, I just…ugh, I just didn't know it would hit me like this."

She was really struggling with keeping her emotions in check, when she felt warm arms wrap around her, and opening her eyes, found Steve was giving her a hug. She automatically returned it, wrapping her arms around his chest, and tucked her head under his chin. Her heart was going about a million beats a minute, and the butterflies were in every extremity of her body, but she didn't really care at the moment. A hug was what she really needed right now.

"Feeling better?" Steve asked after holding her there for a few moments.

"Yes," Olyvia replied, slowly pulling away and tucking her hands into her pockets, "Thank you. I really did need it."

"I'll always be here for you Olyvia," Steve said quietly, and as much as it pained him to even think it, he added, "That's what…friends are for."

"You mean that's what worrying, wannabe mothers are for," Olyvia joked.

Steve sighed, "You're never going to drop that, are you?"

"Maybe only when you let me make my mistakes and get hurt sometimes," Olyvia replied, "How else am I supposed to grow?"

"Working as a team we shouldn't let anyone else get hurt," Steve argued.

"But it happens, no matter how hard you try," Olyvia rebutted, "And you try really hard. You're going to overwork yourself from doing that."

"I just don't want to see you get hurt, Livy."

Olyvia paused for a moment, blinking up in surprise at Steve, and he wondered what he said to get that reaction.

"What?" he asked.

"That's the first time you called me Livy," she replied.

After thinking for a few moments, he realized it was the first time he called her by her nickname.

"I thought…you didn't mind that nickname," Steve said.

"Oh, I don't, I'd much rather be called Livy than…you know what," Olyvia replied, not wanting to mention the other that she was oh so graciously bequeathed by her teammates, "It's just…you're always so proper with your speech, it took me by surprise. Just a little, but back to our debate—"

Steve couldn't help but groan a little. He was hoping they had moved on from that.

"I just don't understand why you have to mother everyone," Olyvia finished.

"I don't mother everyone," Steve replied softly, and despite how his nerves spiked, he needed to tell her how he felt, before he missed the opportunity, "Olyvia I—."

Olyvia hadn't been looking at him for a few seconds while he tried gathering his thoughts because she thought she saw movement, and it didn't look quite human, so she quickly interrupted Steve, thinking that may be the case, "What was that?"

Steve stopped, and turned around to look where Olyvia was, but didn't see anything.

"What was…what?" Steve asked.

"I thought I saw something over there," Olyvia replied, moving past Steve over towards an alleyway between two buildings on the marina, "Something…odd."

Steve quickly caught up to Olyvia, not wanting her to go alone. Though she may be strong, and skilled, she still had a lot to learn and if there was something, there was no telling what it was, or how many there were.

"Maybe we should get the others before checking it out," Steve suggested.

"Or, we could just see if I saw a drunk stumbling into the alleyway and not get everyone in kill mode," Olyvia rebutted, "If we see trouble, then we can go get them."

"By the time we see trouble, it might be too late," Steve argued.

"Again with the worrying," Olyvia sighed exasperatedly, "Sometimes I wonder how you guys get anything done."

By now they reached the alley, and looking down it, saw nothing. It was completely clear, except for a roll of rope at their end. She knew she saw something, and she knew something was wrong as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Someone was watching them.

"Let's get out of here," Olyvia said, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Steve didn't have to be told twice, and made sure Olyvia was ahead of him the entire way back to the game center where the others still were. Once they were rounded up, they had just stepped outside to start looking for Dianne and Loki when Dianne came running up to them.

"What happened?" Olyvia exclaimed, seeing her sister limping and bleeding.

"Aliens," Dianne replied breathlessly.

"From the movie?" Stark asked in horror, and then looked down at Dianne's stomach, "Where is it?"

Clint, who was helping Stark walk, gave him a small whack on the back of the head.

"Do you mean the Skrulls?" Steve asked.

Dianne nodded, "We were attacked by three."

"You took care of them though? How?" Olyvia asked.

"Their armor is inanimate."

Olyvia made a face, "Gross."

"We're wasting time talking though," Dianne said, "Loki…he…he…"

"He what?" Olyvia asked.

Tears sprung to Dianne's eyes as she nearly sobbed, "I…I think he's dying."


	14. Chapter 14

**Got to put this up real quick, I need to get some more studying in for my test in half an hour. AIIIEEE! So not ready for it!**

**harrylee94: No, don't explode! Here's the next chapter, everything will be fine, you'll see.**

**Dr. Huff-Puff: At least you didn't have to wait too long for this chapter.**

**Meanxruki: I thought you'd like that chapter.**

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

Natasha and Clint flew back to the helicarrier as fast as they could, while Dianne held Loki's head in her lap, trying to keep him awake. He was nearly out when they returned to the helicopter, and Stark happily slapped him on the face to snap him back awake. Now Olyvia, Steve and Rosemary had to keep Stark from continuing that, whacking him on the arm or leg whenever he tried to aim a kick in Loki's direction. Once they reached the helicarrier, Loki and Dianne were taken to the medical ward, where a team first went to Dianne, who then scolded them over to Loki's bed, demanding he be seen to first. Upon Fury's arrival, the team of medical technicians looked to him for his final word, and he told them to see to Loki first, since his injuries were more severe.

Dianne waited impatiently as curtains were drawn around Loki's hospital bed. She wished she could be with him, but it might have been too gruesome of a sight for her to be there and watch. She didn't handle blood and gore as well as some of the others. That might be a bit of a hindrance given her current job, but she would just have to suck it up and deal with it.

While the majority of the medical team tended to Loki, a few saw to Dianne, so she wouldn't be just waiting there for help. A curtain was drawn around her bed as well, since her clothes had to be removed so the interns could tend to her injuries. She was thankful at least that the interns were all women.

Meanwhile, Olyvia and Rosemary stood outside the medical ward windows, waiting anxiously to hear about their sister's condition. They knew it wasn't life-threatening, but they were still worried about how serious it was. They were also worried about Loki. They weren't exactly best friends with him like Dianne was, but they got along well enough with Loki and didn't have a predisposed dislike for him so they were concerned. Steve came up behind Olyvia and placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. She glanced over briefly to see who it was before turning back to face the medical ward.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Steve said, seeing how nervous Olyvia was, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.

Olyvia nodded, but didn't say anything. She was too focused on the well-being on her sister at the moment. Deciding that perhaps it was better that he leave her be for the moment, Steve let his hand drop back down to his side, and he headed back to his quarters to retire for the remainder of the evening. For once, he might actually sleep in a little, since it was past midnight. Reaching his room, he sat on his bed for a moment, running a hand through his hair before dropping his head into his hands. He had a perfect chance to tell Olyvia how he felt, and it just didn't happen. He couldn't help but wonder, would he ever have that chance again?

* * *

Olyvia and Rosemary had been waiting outside the medical ward for half an hour before the doctors allowed the two in to see their sister. They were told the cut on her leg would heal the soonest, and that it could take up to a few weeks before her shoulder injury was fully healed. And due to Loki essentially being the meat shield for the laser wound, that one wasn't so bad and would only take up to a week to heal completely. She was to be kept in the ward overnight, since they didn't want her up and moving around too much with her shoulder injury. So after saying their goodnights, the two sisters left to get their much needed sleep, and Dianne reclined back in her bed, waiting for the other medical team to finish with Loki. She thought they had been concealed for far too long, and she was starting to think of the worst scenarios. Was he dead? Did he bleed out? Were they trying to resuscitate him? Would they even _try_ if he died? She would totally kill some people if they just let him die.

Fretting for another half-hour, Dianne perked up as she saw the curtain around Loki's bed being drawn back. He laid on the bed, almost dead still save for the slightest rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, and his green eyes were slightly open, looking over to Dianne. She waited until the medical personnel had cleared out before getting up from her bed and walked over to Loki's bedside. The tile floor was cool beneath her bare feet, and she shivered slightly from the chill that ran up her spine. Reaching Loki's side, she grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly, as if she were afraid that if she let go he would slip away, and smiled down at him.

"You know…this look really doesn't work on you," Dianne teased, trying to lighten the mood, and tugged at the collar of his light blue hospital smock.

"I don't particularly like it on you either," Loki said weakly.

Dianne pulled over a chair and took a seat, still keeping her hold on Loki's hand, "I'm glad you're alright."

"I'm more relieved that _you_ are alright," Loki said.

"Those Skrulls were more after _you_ than me," Dianne rebutted, "You should be concerned about yourself at least a little."

"You actually _want_ me to be selfish?" Loki asked, "That's sort of what got me into this mess in the first place. And besides, I'd rather these Skrull be focused on me rather than you."

Dianne sighed in frustration, glaring ever so slightly at Loki. He could be so infuriating sometimes. She couldn't be angry at him for long though, and her irritation faded quickly as Loki brought her hand to his lips, gently caressing her knuckles with them.

"You appear to be doing well," Loki went on.

"I'm just fine," Dianne replied, "How about you?"

"I am doing just splendid," Loki replied, the slightest sarcasm lacing his words.

"Then is there enough room beside you on the bed?" Dianne asked.

Loki smiled, making Dianne's heart melt. He had the most beautiful smile.

"I think I can make that possible," Loki replied.

Carefully scooting over to the far left side of the bed, Loki provided enough room for Dianne to lay on the bed on his right. Laying on top of the blankets, she cozied up next to him and laid her head on his good shoulder as he draped an arm around her. Resting his other arm on his chest, he held her hand that laid there.

"Now I can honestly say that I feel one hundred percent," Loki whispered into the air.

Dianne smiled, "Goodnight Loki."

"Goodnight Dianne."

* * *

Olyvia and Rosemary were allowed a few hours to sleep in due to returning so late from their outing, but the two were still more asleep than usual when they reached the gym morning, even after eating breakfast first. All were quick to notice they were grouchier than usual too so the first training exercises to get them warmed up were a little deadlier than usual. Once the warm-up exercises were done and they went through their hand-to-hand combat training, it was then time to head over to the training room.

"Since Thanos is obviously starting to send more Skrull after us, we need to bump up your training Rosemary," Natasha explained to the younger sister, "We're going to have you try teleporting back into the gym from here."

Rosemary's eyes went wide as she began to panic, "W-w-what? The other room? I-I don't know if I can do it."

"You have to try," Natasha said, steering her to the wall between the training room and the gym, "It won't be too far of a distance, and you know what the gym looks like, so focus. Clint, could you go back to the gym to make sure she makes it?"

Clint nodded, and left the training area. Rosemary fidgeted, tugging at her clothes. She wasn't as worried as where she might show up, she was more worried about how much she'd be wearing, given what happened last time she tried this. After some encouraging words from her sister, Rosemary took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and pictured in her head the gym and where she wanted to end up. Concentrating hard, she spent a few minutes there before she disappeared. All except for her shoes.

"Well, that's considerably better than last time," Olyvia commented.

Natasha held her walkie-talkie up to her mouth, "She in there Clint?"

"No, she didn't show up," Clint replied through the radio.

Everyone's brow furrowed in confusion as they began to look around, wondering where she went. Suddenly, and alarm went off and Natasha changed the frequency on her radio before speaking into it.

"Director, what is going on?"

"Something just appeared on the outside of the helicarrier, and we don't know what it is."

Olyvia was the first to click everything together.

"Rosemary!" Olyvia screamed before running to the door.

The others quickly sprang into action, running out behind Olyvia. Being so high up in the air, it wasn't healthy for Rosemary to be outside, she could suffocate from the lack of oxygen so high up in the atmosphere. Then there was the issue of her safety, the possibility of her flying off the helicarrier, or worse, being sucked into one of the propellers. Natasha informed Fury that it was Rosemary on the outside, by way of accident from a teleportation test so no one should panic about an attack.

Stark went straight to where his Iron Man suit was while the others headed to the bridge, to find Rosemary's exact location.

"Where is she?" Olyvia asked frantically as she ran up to Fury.

"We're actually having trouble keeping track of her," Fury said, "They system keeps saying she's moving, but it seems to be consistently in one area."

He pointed to a screen that had a picture of the helicarrier, a dot sporadically moving up and down near one of the propellers. Tears began falling from Olyvia's eyes as she realized her sister was milliseconds from death. She was proud of her sister though, for being so smart to keep teleporting herself away from the vacuum of death, though it could have just been an instinct rather than coherent thought. She couldn't imagine how terrified she was right now.

Steve placed a hand on her shoulder, only to have Olyvia burst into tears and whirl around, burying her face into his chest as she sobbed. She was so scared for her sister. Steve then wrapped his arms around her consolingly, trying to help calm her.

"Stark, please tell me you're in the suit by now," Natasha said through the radio.

"Hey, it's not going as fast as I like either," Stark retorted, "I'm almost done though."

Olyvia clasped her hands together, pressing them to her lips and gave a silent prayer that Tony would get her sister in time before she tired herself out.

* * *

Once in the suit, Stark wasted no time in flying out of the nearest exit access point. He would be only somewhat effected by the vacuum effect the propellers had, but if he didn't move fast enough, he would be shrapnel. Using JARVIS, he hacked into the S.H.I.E.L.D security to get a view of the layout that provided the information of where Rosemary was on the ship.

"JARVIS, I want thrusters at a hundred percent," Stark said as he zipped towards the front end of the ship.

"Thrusters at one hundred percent."

Coming around, Stark could seeing Rosemary popping up towards the top of the helicarrier, before zipping back down towards the propeller, then popping back up at her starting point. He would need to calculate when to fly by in order to grab her before she disappeared again. Doing the math quickly in his head, he stalled a few seconds before jetting down towards her. As she reappeared again, he snatched her right off the helicarrier and zipped away.

"I got her," Stark said into his com to Natasha.

"Good job Stark," Natasha replied, "Bring her back in."

Flying around the ship, Stark found the hangar was being opened up for them and landed inside, waiting until the hangar doors were closed again before setting Rosemary down, who was very weak in the legs and sobbing.

"Thank you," she sobbed, throwing her arms around Tony in a hug.

"No problem kiddo," Stark replied, gently patting her on the back.

Rosemary shakily stepped away before sitting down on the ground, trying to collect her wits. It was a few minutes later that the others arrived in the hangar, Olyvia in the lead, almost flying she was running so fast. Rosemary barely got back to her feet when Olyvia nearly tackled her as she threw her arms around her sister, clutching her tightly to her chest, Rosemary giving out a gasping squawk as she was squished.

"Are you alright?" Olyvia asked once she let up on her hold to step back and take a look at her.

"I was, before you squeezed my lungs out of my body," Rosemary said.

"I'm serious Rosemary, are you alright?"

"I am," Rosemary replied, "Shaken, but fine. By the way, I am _never_ doing that again."

"No, you're not," Olyvia agreed, "Not unless this thing is set down on the water."

"Even then, I'm not doing it."

Stepping away from Rosemary, Olyvia turned to Stark and then threw her arms around him, making him freeze in shock for a moment. He was half expecting her to hit him for something.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," Olyvia chanted, "Thank you so much for getting her."

"Not a problem," Stark replied, "We're a team. We look out for each other."

Stepping away from Stark, Olyvia returned to Rosemary's side, and Stark headed off to get his suit off. Now that the chaos had died down, Bruce walked over to Rosemary.

"Here are your shoes."

* * *

From how stressful the morning went, Rosemary was allowed the rest of the day off. Olyvia went back to the gym to finish up her training. Instead of staying in her room, Rosemary went to the medical ward to visit her sister, telling her the exciting tale of how her day went so far. Dianne was appalled by what happened, and extremely relieved that she was perfectly fine.

"I'm not surprised your own 'team' almost killed you," Loki commented, since he was right there listening, "There stupidity never ceases to amaze me."

"They're not stupid," Rosemary argued, "They're just trying their hardest to get us up to speed and it was an accident on my part. Plus, they were able to best you once before, weren't they?"

That shut Loki up, and Dianne patted his hand consolingly, "It's okay Loki, everyone has their moments."

"The fact that they had to get six people together to go up against me, that says something," Loki rebutted.

Dianne couldn't help but nod in agreement, "True. You must be pretty badass then."

"Language!" Rosemary exclaimed.

Dianne just rolled her eyes, and Loki just looked confused.

"Not sure what 'badass' means…but…thank you, I guess."

"You're welcome," Dianne replied, a silly grin on her face, before she gave him a peck on the cheek.

Rosemary couldn't help but smile. She thought Dianne and Loki were so cute together, and she was glad to see her sister so happy with someone.

Now that she had finished her exciting tale, she figured she'd go ahead and hang out in her room for a while, when she stopped, remembering something.

"Oh, before I go, I brought you a gift," Rosemary said, reaching down to the bag on the floor she had brought, and handed it to Dianne, "I noticed you were trying to get as many of these last night."

Taking the bag, Dianne looked inside, and pulled out a baseball sized bouncy ball, a maniacal grin spreading across her lips as her eyes became a little crazy looking, "Ooh, this will be a fun one."

"Question, why are you stocking up on bouncy balls?" Rosemary asked.

Dianne only had to give her a mischievous look, and Rosemary understood.

"Oh…that…will be a very interesting, and effective bomb."

Dianne giggled maniacally, and Loki looked at her with some trepidation.

"You know, this is one of those times I worry for your sanity," Loki said.

"You've worried before?" Dianne asked, still with the creepy grin on her face.

"Well, you have to be a little insane to even consider being with me," Loki said.

"Are you complaining?" Dianne asked, the smile being replaced with a dangerous look.

"Never," Loki replied, "Though I can't help but think that sometimes you may be better off without me."

"Never," Dianne rebutted, looking up into Loki's eyes.

Loki gazed endearingly at Dianne, wondering how he ever became so lucky to meet her. She was just so trusting and not quick to judge.

Seeing the two sharing an intense gaze, having a moment, Rosemary decided it was time for her to go. As she walked back to her room, her heart began to grow heavy. She really missed Juan.

* * *

Since Dianne didn't have too severe of injuries that needed constant monitoring, and Loki healed faster than a normal human being, the two were allowed to leave the medical ward later that day. Dianne couldn't help but laugh at how relieved Loki was to be back in his normal clothes. Though he was feeling much better than the day before, he was still extremely sore. That was only expected after being nearly dissected by the Skrull. And because he was worse off than Dianne, she only fretted over him, and was going to make sure he got the rest that he needed.

"Dianne, I think I've spent enough time just lying around," Loki argued as she sat him down on his bed once again after he tried getting up for the fifth time.

"You are still healing, you shouldn't be up and moving too much," Dianne rebutted, keeping her hands on his shoulders, though she was gentle with his left shoulder, as she stood in front of him, "Now lay down!"

Loki pursed his lips, and couldn't help but think how similar she and Olyvia were with their commands, as if he were one of their pets. Of course, it showed neither of them was scared of him, to order him around like that.

"What about you?" Loki asked, reaching up and wrapping his fingers around her forearms, "Are you going to rest as well? You need it just as much as me."

"I just have a sore shoulder," Dianne argued, "_You_ had your stomach slashed open. And was shot in the back, and stabbed."

Loki rolled his eyes. He thought she was being just a little theatrical about this whole situation.

"Very well, since you _insist_," Loki began, "As long as you stay and keep me company, seeing as how I'm not allowed to do _anything_ to keep myself entertained."

"I'm not saying you can't do anything," Dianne replied, "You can…read a book."

"I've read all the books you've loaned to me," Loki said.

"Then…you can re-read a book," Dianne said as she began to move backwards, intent on returning to her room and spend some time typing on her laptop, play with Nelly, or something.

Dianne felt like someone had just kicked her in the gut as Loki gave her the most sorrowful puppy eyes she had ever seen, "You sound like you don't want to stay."

"It's not that," Dianne said, "I just want you to get your rest, and how can you do that with me bothering you?"

"Easy," Loki replied.

Loki's grip tightened on Dianne, and she let out a tiny squeak as she suddenly found herself being pulled down onto the bed, Loki then moving his arms to wrap around her waist and pulling her close as he cuddled up next to her.

"Just like this," Loki whispered into her ear.

Dianne's entire face flushed a deep crimson. She enjoyed the cuddling, but before when they cozied up together in the medical ward, there were others around. Here, they were in complete privacy, and she couldn't help but feel a little…uncomfortable. Only in the slightest, because there really wasn't any other place that she was more comfortable, in Loki's arms so she was feeling some conflicting emotions at the moment. After laying there for only a few minutes though, her heart pounding loudly and wildly in her ears, wondering what to do, she looked over to Loki, and found he was already asleep.

"Are you seriously asleep? Or are you playing with me?" Dianne asked.

He remained still, his breathing deep and even, and she could only assume that yes, he was indeed asleep. A loving smile spread across her lips, and scooting over a few inches, placed a tender kiss on his forehead. A calm then fell over her, no longer panicking about lying next to Loki in his own bed, and she just watched him for a while, half-expecting those emerald green eyes of his to open. It was as she laid there, thinking about nothing other than the two of them, that she realized something.

"Loki," she whispered quietly, so that if he were joshing her with the whole being asleep thing he would barely be able to hear her, "I…I think I'm in love with you."

* * *

The sun had just set on the following day, the team starting to wind down from training when they received a call from Fury, summoning them to the conference room. And from the sound of things, it appeared to be a serious situation. Fury said nothing as the team trickled in, and once Stark finally arrived, Fury went ahead and explained what was happening.

"We've had another disturbance," Fury went on to explain, "In New York. We've received reports that a large group of Skrulls are terrorizing the streets of Manhatten. So suit up, you'll be taking a quinjet to the city."

Everyone began to get up, when Fury spoke out again.

"_Not_ you two," Fury said, pointing to Dianne and Loki, "You won't be going."

"What?" Dianne asked incredulously, "Why not?"

"You're still recovering from your previous encounter, you are simply not up to the task."

"I feel just fine!"

Loki placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's better this way Dia."

"You are free to return to your rooms," Fury said.

With a frustrated groan, Dianne threw her hands up in the air and stormed out of the room, Loki hurrying after her. The others then hurried to get into their suits and then made their way down to the hangar. Climbing into the quinjet, Steve began giving orders.

"Clint, Natasha, you two stay in the air and tell us where the Skrull are heading, Stark, I want you to circle in a three block radius, deal with the strays, the rest of you will be with me on the ground."

As the quinjet shot out from the hangar, Olyvia was starting to feel ill. This would be her first official mission as a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, and she was just a bundle of nerves. She wasn't sure how good of a job she would do, or if she would freeze up and end up getting hurt. Or worse, Rosemary would get hurt on her watch.

They reached the city within minutes, Natasha and Clint dropping down close to the ground to allow the others to jump off, and Stark took off to do his job of dealing with the strays. Where they dropped down was swarming with Skrulls, in all shapes and sizes, and civilians were running for cover, trying to get away from the creatures. The Skrulls almost instantly stopped their pursuit of the civilians when they saw the agents, and turned to attack them. Rosemary let out a scream, sending a wave of Skrulls flying fifty feet. Bruce rushed ahead of the others, morphing into the Hulk and began pommeling through the Skrull. That left only a handful closing in on them, Thor, Steve and Olyvia engaging in combat with the others. While Thor smashed through their enemies with his hammer, and Steve with his shield, Olyvia would grab them and either smash them into a wall, or into each other, a very hulk-esque fighting style.

As the fight continued, more and more Skrull kept coming their way in droves. It was odd though, and the team was starting to become suspicious of why they were coming to them, hardly letting them move through the streets. It was as if they were trying to keep them in one spot.

"More uglies heading back to you guys," Stark said through his com, and they could see him as he passed in between two buildings a few blocks down.

"We noticed," Rosemary replied, teleporting herself behind a Skrull and then thrust her daggers into its back.

As Olyvia finished off three more Skrull, she noticed something different. A creature, standing across the street, just watching. It didn't look like a Skrull, but she knew it could have been, if it morphed into it, but she had a gut feeling that it wasn't.

"We have an audience," Olyvia said, pointing over to the creature.

The other's turned, and Steve and Thor paused for a moment.

"It can't be," Steve said.

"They were all wiped out," Thor added.

"Explain please?" Olyvia asked as she broke the neck of a Skrull.

"That is a Chitauri," Steve replied, bashing more attacking Skrull with his shield as she moved closer to Olyvia so she could hear him better, "but they were all killed when we fought them when Loki tried taking over."

Olyvia's brow furrowed. So there was one left, out of an entire race? How did that happen? Looking back over, she saw it was starting to retreat now that it had been spotted.

"It's leaving!" Olyvia alerted the others, and broke away from the group to follow.

"Livy don't!" Steve shouted, "It might be a trap."

"Would you rather it get away?" Olyvia rebutted, not slowing at all in her pursuit.

Steve growled in frustration before putting Thor in charge and chased after Olyvia. He wasn't about to let her go off on her own. He could see the Chitauri ahead, but only a glimpse of it before it darted down another street. Olyvia was much closer, and was keeping better track of it, and when Steve finally caught up to her, she was standing beside a water system access point.

"He went down there," Olyvia said, pointing to the hole in the ground where the lid was askew.

"You stay here, I'll take care of this," Steve said.

"Do you know the waterways like the back of your hand?" Olyvia asked, "Because I can only assume it's going to be a maze down there, and you'll never find him. I can though, I can track the sounds he'll be making, _and_ if you stay at the entrance, I'll be able to find my way back."

"If you think I'm going to let you go down there alone—."

"We don't have time to argue about this," Olyvia said, kicking the lid aside, "He's only going to get away."

Steve tried arguing, but Olyvia had already dropped down the hole, not bothering climbing down the later. With a frustrated sigh, Steve climbed in, before dropping the rest of the way once he was sure Olyvia was out of the way.

"If we both go there is no surety of us getting back out," Olyvia said.

"I'm not letting you go alone," Steve repeated, "And we have the coms, we can call for the others."

"We get crappy reception down here for the coms, by the way," Olyvia said, "If you haven't noticed by the buzz of static in your ear."

Listening for a moment, Steve could hear that the ear com was in fact buzzing ever so slightly, in a broken pattern, like their service was very spotty. Well that was just…peachy.

"Even more reason then for me not to let you go alone," Steve continued as he followed Olyvia down a passage, "If I can't keep in contact with you, I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Whatever, just…be quiet, I'm trying to listen here," Olyvia snapped, she was surrounded by a cacophony of sounds, it would be difficult to determine where the Chitauri had went without Steve's chattering.

Steve went silent, knowing she was just trying to do her job, when her head snapped to one direction and she took off that way. Steve was quick to follow, keeping up with her quick pace in the ankle deep water flowing through the tunnels. They rounded a few corners, before Steve saw what Olyvia possibly heard, and that were flood gates closing, the Chitauri on the other side. Steve paused for the briefest moment, thinking that the guy was going to get away because the doors were nearly shut, but Olyvia didn't pause for a moment, running headlong down the tunnel, and Steve knew exactly what she was going to do.

"Livy don't!" Steve ordered as he chased after her.

Olyvia didn't listen, and diving forward, slipped through the last foot of space between the closing doors. By the time Steve reached it though, there wasn't enough room for him to slip through, and the last thing he saw before they shut was Olyvia engaging combat with the Chitauri.

"Damn it Olyvia!" Steve cursed as he punched the metal doors. Not even the slightest dent occurred from that, meaning it was _thick_ metal.

Using his com, he tried to contact Olyvia, but she just either wasn't replying, or couldn't reply for multiple reasons, one of which he didn't want to think about. So then he tried contacting the rest of the team, specifically Thor, who he knew could break down the doors with that hammer of his. Of course, Thor had no idea what the city's water system was, or how to get there, so Stark had to give him instructions.

"The fight is almost done up here anyways," Stark said into the com, "Point Break can go help you while we finish the others up here."

Steve debated on whether to head back towards the entrance…wherever the entrance was, he wasn't paying too much attention this time around, to meet up with Thor, or stay here and hope Olyvia could make her way out. He was about to start heading back, figuring Thor would have some difficulty tracking them down, when he heard Olyvia's voice bouncing around in the air, clearly panicked, calling for him. He ran back to the steel doors, hoping she might be able to hear him through there.

"What's wrong?"

"The room is filling up with water," Olyvia's voice reached him a few seconds later, as if she were standing right behind him, "And I'm trapped."

* * *

When Olyvia had first dove into the room, she immediately began fighting the Chitauri, who easily escaped her blows, almost dancing out of her reach. She could see he had a nasty looking spear thing, but he wasn't using it at all. Of course, she was grateful for that. As she tried to reach him, he scurried up a ladder on the wall to a small alcove in the wall, where a door hatch was, and slipping inside, slammed it shut before Olyvia could reach it. Grabbing the handle, she found that she couldn't open it. The little monster had done something to either break the mechanics, or lock it shut that not even with her strength could pry it open. Hitting it with the side of her fist, the thick steel door only formed little divots where her pinky knuckles had hit, and her hand was starting to throb from the pain. With a frustrated sigh, she kicked the door. Looked like he had got away. Now she just needed to get out.

As she went to drop back down from the alcove, she found herself being jetted back down to the four inch deep water by a torrent of water coming in from a tube to her left. She was completely drenched, and as she stood up, noticed there were a total of four tunnels of water pouring into the one room. Her heart dropped into her stomach. This was a flood chamber, designed to be air tight. There was no way this would drain out on its own, it had to be manually done. The water was rising quickly, only a few second had passed, and she was up to her calves in water. Panicking, she shouted for Steve, forcing her voice to travel through the tubes where the water was coming in, in order to reach him. She heard his voice faintly through the steel doors she had slipped through earlier, and trying to keep calm, told him what was happening.

"I'll get you out!" she heard Steve reply.

"Unless you have Bruce with you, I don't think you're getting through those doors," Olyvia shouted back. Looking around though, she realized that the doors were only metal, everything else was concrete. She could break through concrete, if it wasn't too thick. Moving to the wall, Olyvia balled her hands into fists and began punching it with as much power she could muster. It only cracked, and Olyvia began to panic more as it only began to crack away ever so slightly as she continued to pound her fists against the wall. The water was now up to her bust, and she couldn't get as powerful of a swing trying to punch above the water, plus her hands were now killing her, knuckles bleeding and her bones aching.

"Liv—way—out?" Olyvia caught Stark's voice on the com.

"What?" she asked.

"Is there any—out?" Stark asked again.

"No there isn't any way out!" Olyvia shouted back hysterically.

She was treading water now to keep herself afloat, and she had only about ten feet more of room to have someone break her out of here before she was completely engulfed in water. She needed to keep herself calm though, if she just freaked out, she would only drown faster. Trying to hit the wall again, she only managed to push herself backwards, while doing minimal damage to the wall. Still, she tried, but gave up after the water rose another four feet.

"Somebody please get me out of here!" Olyvia screamed, tears coming to her eyes. She didn't want to drown.

Once she had only about a foot left, she swallowed hard, trying to force back her tears as she came to accept that she wouldn't be getting out of this. Taking in one last deep breath of the air she had before the water level hit the ceiling, she thought over everything that had happened over the last few months. Warm tears stung her eyes as Steve's face flashed through her mind. She never had the guts to tell Steve how she felt. Now she would never get that chance.

Her lungs began to hurt, bursting for air, and Olyvia was fighting taking a breath as long as she could, but once she couldn't take it anymore, she involuntarily tried to take a breath, and her lungs were filled with water, choking her. Clawing at the ceiling, her body grew still as her world went dark.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello people! Sorry for making you wait longer than usual for this chapter, but here it is!**

**harrylee94: You exploded **_**again**_**? I must be doing something right. That or I'm just evil. Mwuahahaha!**

**kyubbi lover 98: Here it is! Hope that it's soon enough.**

**Dr. Huff-Puff: Uh…well, you'll see how safely she gets out. *cough***

**Meanxruki: Means a lot to me that you are enjoying the story. :D**

**Xandrea: Thank you so much! And Loki is cute. Adorable even.**

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

Thor found Steve not long after he said he was coming, and was about to break open the door with Mjulnir when Stark stopped them.

"Wait! Don't break anything yet!"

"Olyvia doesn't have time!" Steve rebutted.

"Unless you—flood yourselves—not."

"What?"

"I know where—system. Breaking the—flood the tunnel," Stark tried again.

"You're cutting out big time Stark," Steve said.

After a few moments, Stark came in crystal clear, "I have a layout of the water system, and using your coms to track you. If you open those gates, you will end up drowning yourselves. You have to move to a different section and open different doors. Move quick, the water level is nearly to the top and I've lost Olyvia's signal."

Steve didn't need any more incentive, and asked Stark for directions as he headed back down the tunnel, Thor following closely behind. They hadn't gotten around the first corner when Stark gave them bad news.

"The chamber is completely filled Rogers. I'd only give Livy thirty seconds before she's unconscious, unless she can somehow breathe underwater or hold her breath for longer than the average person."

Heart ramming itself into his throat, Steve hurried even faster, following Stark's directions. He didn't want to have to wait longer to get her out of there. Reaching the area Stark directed them to almost a minute later, Stark then tried to explain what Steve needed to do to open the doors, but the mechanics were apparently broken.

"Maybe you're just not doing it right," Stark said.

"We don't have time for this Stark!" Steve shouted into the com, "Find us another way!"

"Go down the tunnel to your right, there is a floodway down that way that if you break through the water should go down to the bay instead of flooding you too."

Steve quickly moved down the tunnel, waiting for Stark to let them know when to stop, when Thor called out to him.

"Rogers!"

Steve skidded to a stop before going back to the demi-god, and looked to where he was pointing. Cracks in the wall, water trickling just barely through it. The flood chamber must have been just on the other side. Steve wasn't going to wait to see if Stark gave them the okay, and told Thor to break it down. Standing behind Thor, Steve waited anxiously as Thor raised Mjulnir. Though he moved quick, it still seemed too slow for Steve, but finally Mjulnir made contact with the concrete slab, breaking a huge hole in it, and water came pouring out, curving up against the wall before flowing down the tunnel. The moment Steve saw a large black mass come through, he leapt forward and grabbed Olyvia, pulling her to where the water level was lower and mostly out of the way of the torrent of water rushing by, resting her upper body on his thighs as he knelt down in the water. He pulled off his cowl, flipping it onto his back to get it out of his way, and pressed two fingers against her neck, praying to find a pulse. After a few panicked seconds, he felt the slightest throb against his fingers, and he breathed a sigh of relief. But she still wasn't breathing, and if Stark was correct, she hadn't been breathing for the last two minutes or so, and needed to be resuscitated quickly. Steve knew CPR, something he had to learn when he started working for S.H.I.E.L.D, and was he ever grateful now for knowing it.

Moving to a shallower area, he laid Olyvia down flat on her back, tipped her head back and he didn't even give it a second thought as he placed his mouth over hers and breathed air into her lungs for her. After a few breaths, he stopped to check if there was any change, and seeing none, started compressions. He began to panic more seeing nothing was happening, and possibly heard some cracking sounds from her chest. He wasn't about to give up though. Thor just watched helplessly, wishing there was something else he could do to help.

Steve started the breaths again, and after the third one, Olyvia's chest suddenly heaved, and Steve jolted upright in time as Olyvia lurched over onto her side, facing away from Steve, and coughed up what seemed to be gallons of water. Her breaths were rattled as she gasped wildly for air, coughing up even more water, tearing up her throat, until it was pretty much all out. Her chest ached, and it hurt to breathe, but she was in such desperate need of air, she didn't give a damn and continued to breathe deeply, her chest rattling every time.

Once she had finished with her coughing fit, Steve gently rolled her back over, lifting her up slightly in his arms and brushed away the loose pieces of hair from her ponytail plastered to her face in order to get a good look at her before pulling her into his arms, trying his best not to squeeze her in his enthusiasm. He wrapped one arm around her back and held her head in one hand to be safe that he wouldn't hurt her, pressing the side of his face against her head.

"Oh thank god," Steve breathed, coming close to tears he was so relieved.

"New York water, tastes nasty, by the way," Olyvia rasped, her throat raw from all the coughing.

Steve sighed in relief, a small smile tugging at his lips, "Well I'm glad you're feeling good enough to joke around."

"I'm not joking, I'm being serious," Olyvia said, "New York water tastes nasty."

Steve pulled away just enough to look down at Olyvia's face. She looked lethargic, about to fall asleep right there, as well as in pain.

"How are you feeling?" Steve asked.

"It hurts to breathe," Olyvia replied, her hand clutching at her chest.

"Let's get you back to the helicarrier," Steve said.

Olyvia nodded in agreement, and Steve told Thor to go ahead and return to the others, that they would be close behind. He was already gone before Olyvia tried to get to her feet, her legs felt like jello as Steve helped her up.

"Here, I can just carry you," Steve offered.

"No, I'm good," Olyvia said, still keeping a firm grip on Steve's shoulders as her legs wobbled beneath her, "Just give me a few moments."

Steve was so focused on Olyvia due to his concern, that he didn't even notice what had appeared behind her, until Olyvia gasped loudly in pain, her body locking up as a blade went through the left side of her rib cage, nearly impaling Steve as it jutted out from her chest.

"Livy!" Steve cried as she went limp in his arms as the blade was ripped away, and looking up, Steve saw the Chitauri they had pursued down here in the first place, running away.

Grabbing his shield, Steve threw it, but the Chitauri had already disappeared, and the shield ended up bouncing against the walls a few times before it ricocheted back to him. As much as he wanted to pursue the bastard and deal with him, he wasn't going to leave Olyvia there, bleeding out.

"S-S-Steve," Olyvia gasped.

"It'll be alright Livy," Steve said, trying to sound reassuring, but it came out more like he was trying to reassure himself, "I'm getting you out of here."

"I can't—I can't breathe."

Lifting her off the ground, Olyvia let out a small cry of pain as he did so, and keeping a firm grip on her, Steve ran toward the exit. He knew every second counted.

* * *

Clint and Natasha had the quinjet ready to go once Steve made it to the surface, and Bruce, back in his human form and in another change of clothes, did his best keeping Olyvia stable as they hurried back to the helicarrier. They were so focused on that, they nearly missed the big blaring sign that something else was wrong.

"What happened to the Statue of Liberty?" Stark asked.

Clint and Natasha looked out toward the statue, to find that the head was missing, smoke billowing out from the neck.

"We haven't received any word from Fury," Natasha explained, "So either he doesn't know, or we'll find out once we return to base."

Stark watched the billowing smoke for a few seconds longer before turning back to the team. Rosemary clung onto her sister's battered, bleeding left hand, tears streaming down her face, Bruce worked on stemming the bleeding, and Steve held Olyvia's right hand with his, his other resting on her forehead. She had already lost consciousness, and Stark could see the Captain was beside himself with worry. Stark was worried for Olyvia as well, and getting her back to the helicarrier to be seen to by the medical team was much more important than figuring out why the head of the statue of liberty was missing.

Having contacted the helicarrier on their approach, a team of medics were already in the hangar as they landed. Rosemary and Steve followed as she was wheeled up to the medical ward, both keeping their hold on her hands, until they reached the medical center.

"This is as far as you can go," Bruce said, holding the two back as Olyvia was wheeled into the room, "There isn't any more you can do. All you can do now is just wait."

"How long?" Steve asked, his eyes following Olyvia instead of looking at Bruce.

"I don't know," Bruce replied, "But I will let you know of Olyvia's final condition, when we reach that point."

Steve walked over to the window, and watched as the team began to get to work, and Bruce said a few more words to Rosemary before heading in as well. Doing her best not to cry, Rosemary headed to the showers to clean herself up first, before then planning on trying to sleep. She wasn't sure how she would sleep, but she knew she needed some sleep. She needed to talk to Dianne before that though, let her know what was going on.

Steve stayed at the window, until curtains were drawn around the hospital bed, and he stepped away, leaning against the opposite wall, dropping his head into a hand. He took a few deep breaths, trying to compose himself, but in a burst of anger, turned around and punched the wall a few times, denting the metal slightly. He was angry. Angry with himself, for allowing Olyvia to go off like that, for not keeping better tabs on her, and just a little upset with her, for being so stubborn and running off, not listening to him. If she died because of this…he wasn't sure how he could handle that. He blamed himself for her current situation, and he would just die if she didn't make it. And he had already lost enough already. First his parents, then his best friend, and then his first love. He couldn't lose someone else now, not when he had finally healed, and believed he could move on.

Still very upset, and knowing he wouldn't be able to sleep, Steve went to his quarters and changed out of his suit and into a t-shirt and jeans, and headed down to the gym. He needed to vent his anger, and that was the easiest way. Setting up a line of bags on the floor, Steve hooked one up, and began punching.

* * *

Dianne was only just very upset about not being allowed to go on the mission, and paced back in forth in her bedroom as she steamed over the fact. Loki sat at the edge of her bed, looking hesitant to try talking to her, absent mindedly tugging at the edge of his sleeves of the green tunic he wore. He would never admit it out loud, but he was a little frightened of Dianne when she got into these moods.

"I can't believe I wasn't allowed to go," Dianne grumbled.

"It's for the best, Dianne," Loki said, "You're in no shape to help."

"I can move around just fine, if that was their concern," Dianne said, flailing her arms about before cringing and grabbing her left shoulder, "Ow."

Loki looked at her in an I-told-you-so expression, and Dianne frowned at him.

"Oh shut up."

"I didn't say anything," Loki said, an amused expression on his face.

Walking over, Dianne plopped down beside him with a sigh, bouncing a few times from the springs in the mattress.

"Okay, I'm not in ideal condition for any fighting," Dianne admitted, resting her hand on her stomach, over the other minor injury there that still ached, "Still, I wish I could help."

Wrapping his arms around Dianne's waist, Loki pulled her closer, feathering kisses on her neck, "I prefer you being here. Means you won't be in any danger."

At least not from the Skrull or Thanos. Fury on the other hand…well, he didn't want to think about that.

Dianne rolled her eyes, "You are far too overprotective. You don't want me to do anything to help."

"That isn't true."

Dianne looked at him skeptically, "Right."

Loki lifted a hand and cupped Dianne's face, his fingers weaving into her dark brown locks, "Dianne…you don't realize how special you are to me. Losing you would…kill me."

Dianne's eyes softened, "You're special to me too Loki, which is why I want to help. I don't want to lose you either."

Wrapping his hand around the back of her neck, he pulled her face to his, crushing her lips against his. Dianne shivered from the tremors shooting down her spine, melting into Loki as he deepened the kiss. Her stomach did a little flip as she found herself being pulled further onto the bed before pushed down onto her back, Loki not breaking from the kiss for a moment. She gasped involuntarily as Loki's fingers slipped under the hem of her shirt. Her heart began to race as his hand began to move higher across her stomach. The rush of emotions inside her felt good, but she couldn't help but panic slightly from the level of intimacy. As much as she was unsure about this, she didn't want him to stop. In fact, her hands were starting to move on their own, grabbing at his collar and working at the buttons on his tunic, slipping her hands underneath to run across his chest. The feeling of her fingers against his skin near drove him crazy, moving his hands to bury them into her hair as he deepened the kiss even further, sweeping his tongue into her mouth to taste her.

Quite a few minutes were spent caught up in their emotions, completely enthralled with each other. Loki's tunic ended up on the floor, and his hands slipped under Dianne's shirt again, but when his hands had reached just beneath her bust, Dianne snapped back to her coherent thought, her hands flying to Loki's wrists, stopping any further advancement.

"I don't want to go any further," Dianne said through her labored breath.

"That didn't seem to be the case a few minutes ago," Loki said, resting his forehead against hers, his long black hair looking like a ruffled mess.

"I don't feel very…comfortable, going that far," Dianne replied, "With the touching."

Loki sighed, and slipping a hand from Dianne's grasp, slid it down her side until it hit the bandage on her lower stomach. Dianne's heart jumped into her throat as Loki dipped down, and a shiver shot down her spine all the way to her toes as Loki's lips gently brushed against her skin, just above the bandage. As he moved back up to look her in the eye, Dianne could feel her face burning from how madly she was blushing, her face now bright red.

"Then I shall try to refrain the affection you deserve," Loki whispered.

"Flatterer," Dianne said, "I do remember though it being said you had quite the silver tongue."

"Yes, but you also remember me saying I would never trick you, don't you?" Loki asked lowly.

Dianne nodded, "I do."

"So whatever I say to you, is the complete truth."

And as he gazed into her jade eyes, there was one thing he could say to add to that, that he knew was true from the very essence of his being, but that one phrase caused so much apprehension, so much fear, fear of rejection, that he just…he just couldn't say it. It wasn't like telling her he liked her, no it was so much more than that. So instead he kissed her again.

* * *

Dianne jolted awake hearing a loud banging against her door, and after double-checking that her clothes were all straightened out, which she had to tug her shirt down a little, and that Loki had hidden himself, using his magic to conceal his presence, she opened the door. She was a little upset about being woken up in the middle of the night, and her cuddle-time with Loki interrupted, but seeing Rosemary standing there, her face stained with tears, eyes red and puffy, she couldn't be angry with her. Instead, her stomach dropped as it grew heavy. Something bad had happened.

"What's wrong Rosemary?" Dianne asked.

A few sobs burbled over Rosemary's lips before she composed herself enough to say, "Livy is dying. She's in the medical ward. They're trying to save her."

Dianne's blood ran cold, her body growing numb hearing the news.

"What happened?"

"She…she followed some alien down into the water system and…and she was trapped, and the room she was in flooded, and she drowned. S-S-Steve and Th-Thor got her, and brought her back, but as they were returning…the-the alien stabbed her," Rosemary started to become hysteric, "Her lung collapsed, a-and she's lost so much blood. Not to mention what brain damage has been done from the lack of oxygen to her brain. Dia, I'm so scared!"

Dianne pulled her sister into a hug, and Rosemary burst into tears. If Dianne was hugging _her_, then she must believe the situation to be dire indeed. As Rosemary continued to cry, Dianne felt a hand on her shoulder, and Loki whispered quietly into her ear that he would let her be with her sister, and that he would see her on the morrow. Dianne gave a slight nod, and a few seconds later, she knew he was gone.

"So she's in the medical ward now?" Dianne asked.

Rosemary nodded, "Dr. Banner said they were going to perform surgery on her, to stop the bleeding and r-repair her lung. He didn't say anything though about her getting better. He just said they would try their best. Please tell me Livy will pull through this."

"Livy is a tough cookie," Dianne said, "She'll pull through this just fine. I mean, Thor punched her through a wall a few days ago and she shook that off like it was nothing. She'll be fine."

Rosemary nodded in agreement. Her sister wouldn't go without a fight.

"Besides, Livy won't die not having ever been kissed," Dianne said, trying to lighten the mood.

A small burble of laughter escaped Rosemary's lips, "She is a hopeless romantic after all."

"So I can assure you, she will be fine," Dianne said.

Rosemary nodded again. The two sisters stayed there for a few more minutes until Rosemary had calmed down, and stepped away from her sister.

"I think I might be able to sleep now," Rosemary said, "If you hear anything, come and tell me."

"I will," Dianne promised, "And if you hear anything, tell me."

Promising she would, Rosemary made her way back to her room. Dianne shut the door, and laid back down on her bed, Nelly moving from where she was napping momentarily as she waited for her person to get situated. Laying there on her bed, Dianne clasped her hands together, pressing them to her forehead, and said a prayer for her sister, that she would pull through.

* * *

Steve was nearing exhaustion as the sun began to rise the following morning, but he wasn't going to stop taking out his frustration on the punching bags until he heard good news about Olyvia's condition. After destroying the umpteenth punching bag, he didn't bother counting, he went to grab another when Natasha walked in.

"Olyvia is out of surgery," Natasha said.

Steve stopped, and waited for Natasha to say more.

"She will pull through," Natasha said, and Steve crumpled to his knees in relief, as well as letting his exhaustion finally take over, dropping his head into his hands as he tried his best to keep himself from crying in relief as well.

"You can go see her," Natasha continued, "She's not awake, but you can visit."

Steve slowly got to his feet, fighting his exhaustion to stay upright, "Thank you Natasha."

She gave him a small smile as she nodded, before turning around and leaving the gym. Steve quickly put away all the punching bags in their designated areas, and then headed to the showers to clean up before changing into a new change of clothes, tan pants and a green button up shirt, before heading to the medical ward. Unsurprisingly Dianne and Rosemary were already there, Loki there as well, most likely accompanying Dianne rather than any real concern for Olyvia. But then again, Steve wasn't entirely sure what was going on in Loki's head anymore, he could have been concerned for her. He certainly looked it, not nearly as much as he had been when Dianne was in her place, but concerned nonetheless.

The three looked over hearing the doors open, and seeing it was Steve, Rosemary grabbed an extra chair and drug it over, patting the seat of it telling him to sit down. Taking the seat, Steve's face crumpled as he looked over Olyvia. She was attached to all sorts of equipment, none of which Steve had any clue as to what it did, or what use it had. Olyvia laid almost completely still, except for the slightest rise and fall of her chest. A plastic mask was over her nose and mouth, and she looked paler than she originally was, her eyelids almost translucent. She certainly looked like she was dying.

"They were able to sew her lung back up, she can breathe normally now, though she shouldn't take any deep breaths," Dianne began to explain to Steve, "She might pull stitches that way. She also had a few cracked ribs…from when you did CPR."

Well that was a blow below the belt, and Steve felt guiltier than ever.

"You should know, cracked ribs means you did CPR correctly," Dianne said, "That's actually normal for it. And it was nothing serious. They'll actually heal relatively quickly."

"She also almost broke her arms," Rosemary chipped in, "Dr. Banner said something about her hitting something so hard her bones almost couldn't take it."

Steve's brow furrowed in confusion, but thankfully Bruce was nearby to explain.

"I'm assuming she tried breaking through the concrete wall," Bruce said.

Steve nodded, "That's where Thor found cracks, where water was leaking through. It's a reasonable assumption. What about it?"

"Well, though her body can certainly take more abuse than a normal human, that's only because of her muscle structure," Bruce explained, "She nearly shattered the bones in her hand from hitting the concrete. Had she done much more…she could have broken her arms as well as destroyed her hands. Her muscles wouldn't have offered much protection. So either she stopped from the pain, or something else stopped her, but it was a good thing, otherwise she would have to be in a cast for…weeks at least. As of now, her hands will have to remain in splints while the bones heal, she cracked a few."

Steve looked down to Olyvia's left hand, which was just in front of him, to find that it was heavily bandaged as well as supported in the splints Bruce just spoke of.

"As for brain damage, I won't be able to tell until she wakes," Bruce went on, "I hope that it is minimal."

Because at this rate, there was going to be some, they just didn't know how badly.

After making sure no one had any more questions, Bruce wandered off, most likely to run some tests for something, leaving the four there.

"I should have tried stopping her," Steve said.

"Given how this family is, I doubt there was anything you could have done to stop her," Loki said, "They're all quite stubborn."

Dianne frowned, and out of reflex, elbowed him in the gut since he was standing right behind her, not too hard, but with his wound still healing, Loki doubled over, dropping down to a knee as he groaned in pain. Dianne gasped in horror when she realized what she just did.

"I'm sorry Loki!" Dianne said, kneeling down beside him, "I'm so sorry! It was just a reflex."

"Ow," Loki wheezed, "A reflex? How often do your sisters annoy you for that to be a reflex?"

"Rosemary is loud, how often do you think?"

Loki should have figured that it was often, but still, he didn't honestly expect Dianne to hit him, especially where he had an injury still healing. Maybe next time he chanced to say something that might offend her, he wouldn't be standing directly behind her.

"Don't blame yourself Steve," Rosemary said, "Loki is right, we are stubborn, Livy probably more so than the two of us."

"Combined," Dianne added.

"Oh I'd argue that," Loki said as he got back to his feet, jumping aside in case Dianne tried elbowing him again, "You are quite stubborn Dianne, I don't think Olyvia is much more than that."

"I'm not—," Dianne stopped seeing the skeptical look Loki was giving her as she started that sentence, "_that_ stubborn."

"What is that phrase you mortals use again? Oh yes, whatever helps you sleep at night," Loki rebutted.

"I just might hurt you again," Dianne threatened, "And this time on purpose."

Loki pressed his lips back together, cautiously moving behind Dianne again, and wrapped his arms around her waist as he rested his chin on her head. He whispered something into her ear the others couldn't hear, and she just rolled her eyes before reaching up and patting him on his head, and then let her arm drop back into her lap.

Watching how Loki interacted with Dianne, Steve would almost say he seemed…normal, not like the psychotic demi-god they fought months ago, who was trying to take over the world. He still didn't put too much trust in the guy, but Steve found himself starting to trust him a little more.

The four stayed in the medical ward for over an hour, conversing occasionally when a topic came up, but for the most part, they were silent. After being there for an hour, they noticed agents starting to run about in the halls, as if something was happening. Steve was tempted to see what was going on, but decided that if he wasn't being called for, he wasn't needed, and could stay at Olyvia's side. Things died down around ten minutes later, but then Clint entered the medical ward.

"Fury wants you in the conference room, now."

"All of us?" Dianne asked, just to clarify.

Clint nodded, and now that he had given the order, left. Dianne was the first to get up after a few seconds, lacing her fingers with Loki's as they reached for each other's hand, and left as well, Rosemary hopping up onto her feet a few seconds later and doing the same. Steve was the last to tear himself from Olyvia's side, lightly touching her bandaged hand before leaving. He wasn't too far behind the others, and easily caught up to Rosemary due to his long strides. As Dianne and Loki headed through the doors into the conference room, she noticed an unfamiliar face in there, but she noted that his attire was very similar to Loki's and Thor's Asgardian garb. Loki, however, recognized the man, and froze, debating for a moment whether to run from the room, or if it would be worth it to stay, because standing beside Fury at the front of the room, was Odin.

"What is he doing here?" Loki asked.

"You know him?" Dianne asked.

"Hey, what do you know, another pirate," Rosemary commented as she walked in, "Arrrr, we be pirates."

Dianne gave her sister an odd look.

"What? Livy would have said it if she were here," Rosemary said in her defense.

Dianne had to nod in agreement, because Livy would have. Turning back to Loki though, she asked her question again.

"That's…that's Odin," Loki replied quietly.

"Your father?"

"He's _not_ my father," Loki hissed, his anger spiking.

Dianne stepped away from him, obviously frightened by the outburst, and Loki took in a deep breath to calm himself.

"I'm sorry," Loki apologized, "It's just…"

"You're still bitter that he lied to you your whole life," Dianne finished for him.

Loki nodded, and Dianne closed the distance between them, grasping his hand in hers again.

"Just know that I'm here for you," Dianne said, "So let's just get this over with."

Loki hesitantly followed Dianne further into the room. He still felt so much anger towards Odin, for not telling him about his origin, but not nearly as much as he had before he met Dianne. She had taught him at least a little that you didn't need to be born into a family to be family. Still, he thought Odin should have told him, instead of finding out on his own.

As usual, Stark was the last to arrive, taking a seat at the table while most of the others stood, on edge about their new visitor. Once Stark was there, Fury went ahead and officially introduced him.

"Most of you do not know who this is standing beside me," Fury began.

"Your eye-patch club buddy?" Stark guessed aloud, interrupting Fury.

Fury clenched his jaw, but said nothing in rebuttal, instead just continuing in his spiel, "This is Odin, King of Asgard, Thor and Loki's fath—."

"_Not_ my father," Loki interrupted.

Odin's face fell hearing that, and Dianne felt a little sorry for the guy.

"_Thor's_ father," Fury corrected, "He has brought us…something you may or may not be pleased to see."

Reaching into his cloak, Odin brought out the Tesseract, and all but Thor, Rosemary, and Dianne tensed seeing it. They were absolutely not okay with this being back.

"And just why is this being brought _back_ to us?" Stark asked.

"I must go back to Asgard and help repair my home," Odin replied, "I have been keeping this safe from Thanos's grasp, but I have duties as King to see to, now that my sons are not present there."

"Son," Loki quipped.

"Odin is giving it to S.H.I.E.L.D to protect it," Fury said.

Loki paled. That…_thing_ was going to be kept on the ship; taunting him with the reminder that he couldn't keep it in his possession before? Sure, it didn't really matter much to him now, but _that_ was what Thanos was after, as well as him. Why keep both in one place where it would be even easier for him to claim his prizes?

"You do remember what happened last time you had that in your possession, right?" Clint asked.

"We won't be working with it, Agent Barton," Fury assured him, "We will keep it in a highly secured area on the ship. No one will be able to easily reach it."

"_Easily_ reach it," Stark emphasized, "So it will still be possible. Not exactly the most comforting of assurances."

"I vote we just toss it back into the ocean," Steve said.

"Keeping the Tesseract from Thanos's hands is the least of our problems," Fury interrupted before people began talking over each other, blurting out their ideas of what to do, "Thanos has acquired a gem."

Everyone went silent. This definitely was bad news.

"Apparently, the Skrull you fought last night were meant to be a distraction while he extracted the gem from its hiding spot," Fury explained.

"And just where was this…hiding spot?" Rosemary asked.

"The Statue of Liberty."

The team froze. Thanos was that close to them? And he didn't go down and wipe them out? Perhaps they had gotten out in time, or he just wasn't interested in dealing with them just yet. Either way, they were extremely lucky to have avoided him, especially if he had one gem in that damned gauntlet of his.

"So…he just has one?" Dianne asked hopefully.

"We don't know for sure how many he may have," Fury replied, "But we hope that is the case."

"You really suck at this thing called boosting morale," Dianne sighed in frustration.

"Now that we know Thanos is on the move, we need to take extra precautions," Fury said, "Be ready for anything."

"What about Olyvia?" Rosemary asked.

"She will be brought up to speed once she wakes, but if Thanos makes a move anytime soon, she will be sitting it out," Fury explained, "Now unless there are any other questions, we are finished here."

No one said anything, and Fury excused them by way of just leaving the room, taking the Tesseract with him of course. Natasha and Clint were quick to follow, probably helping him escort the cube to its destination. The rest of the team began to head out, but as Loki and Dianne neared the doors, Odin spoke.

"Loki."

That was all that needed to be said for Loki to know Odin wished to speak with him, and he hesitated by the door. Should he stay, and listen to further pathetic excuses Odin told him as to why he was never told of his parentage, or should he just ignore him and leave? Looking over to Dianne, he sighed when he realized what he should do. He wasn't looking forward to it, but he would do it. As he turned around, Dianne let go of his hand.

"Shall I go?" she asked.

"No," Loki replied, taking her hand again, "Please stay."

She nodded, and the two waited for the others to filter out of the room, Thor being last when he saw his father wished for him to leave them so they may speak in private. Loki stayed put in his spot by the door as Odin crossed the room.

"I thought I'd never have the chance to speak with you again," Odin said, sadness in his voice.

"If you wish to speak, do so," Loki said, "I wish to be elsewhere."

Odin's face fell, "I know you hold no love for me for what I did, but I only did it to protect you."

Loki would have agreed, but when he looked upon the man who raised him, he still felt some love and compassion towards him. He was…after all there as a father figure to him. He still believed he deserved to know of his true origin though.

"And I know, no matter how much I apologize, you will never forgive me," Odin continued, "But I just want to tell you Loki…I am proud of you, for taking responsibility and doing your part to mend what you started."

"Of course you believe it is my fault," Loki spat.

"Everyone makes mistakes," Odin said, and his eye began to water, "Me making the biggest mistake of all, for not being the father I should have been to you, and not telling you of your past. If anyone is to blame for what is happening…it is me. I could have stopped this long before it started. I'm sorry Loki, for being unable to protect you, when I thought I was. I will always consider you my son, but I understand if you wish to have nothing to do with me after this."

He was silent for a few moments, waiting to see if Loki would say anything, but seeing that he was not, and wouldn't, he bowed his head sorrowfully.

"Then this is goodbye Loki," Odin said, "I wish you the happiness I could never give you."

Walking past them, he too left the room, leaving Loki and Dianne alone in the conference room.

"That didn't seem so bad," Dianne said.

Loki rolled his eyes, "You heard him blame me for what is happening."

"But…isn't it sort of…your fault?" Dianne said quietly.

Loki's face crumpled, "Even you are against me."

"No, I'm not Loki," Dianne said, and turned his face so he was looking at her, "I'm with you, to help you with this. I know what you did in New York months ago, that it wasn't you you, but it was still you causing the mayhem, but now you are taking the right steps to fix that, by keeping the Tesseract from Thanos's hands, and helping to stop him. I'm not against you Loki, never will I be against you."

"Even if I turn into that man again?" Loki asked.

"You'll never turn into that man again," Dianne replied in a whisper.

"How can you be so sure?" Loki asked.

Dianne wrapped her arms around his waist in a hug, resting her head on his chest, "Because I'm going to stay at your side, and smack you upside the head if you even consider it."

Loki gave a small laugh, a smile tugging at his lips, "Then I have nothing to worry about."

"Of course not."

Cupping Dianne's face, Loki turned her face up to his, "Just know Dianne…that it is because of you that I am who I am today. You've had such an impact on me…I'm surprised at myself by how much I've changed…I feel like myself again."

Dianne blushed, and averted her gaze, "I wouldn't say I've had that much of an impact."

"You have no idea what I was like before," Loki said, "With Thanos…after discovering my true identity…I had lost myself, now I'm…almost back to how I was before all of this. And it is because of you."

Dianne wasn't sure what to say to that, but she apparently didn't need to say anything, Loki bending down and capturing her lips with his. Breaking away from the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers, closing his eyes and just relishing the moment of having her there in his arms, gently caressing her face with fingers. In all his years, he never felt like he quite belonged where he was, but right now, he never felt like he belonged more than he did with Dianne.

* * *

Thanos inspected the newly placed gem on his gauntlet. A total of three were set in their slots, he was only halfway finished collecting the gems. Then those pathetic mortals, and those Asgardians, would stand no chance against him. They had no chance against him now, of course, but why make this quick? Drawing out the battle was half the fun, messing with their minds, making them think they actually had a chance, giving them false hope.

From where he stood on the rock that was just floating out in the nothingness, he felt a presence behind him, and turning around, found that The Other had returned.

"Your distraction proved useful," Thanos said, "How did it go?"

"The Skrull were all killed," The Other replied.

Thanos paused, "All?"

"Those humans are stronger than they appear," The Other said, "And not even all were there. Loki and that dark haired human girl were not present."

"Still nursing their injuries due to your previous outing," Thanos said, "Typical."

"And as for that one girl…the one who injured you," The Other began, pausing when he saw Thanos's face contort in fury, "She may or may not be an issue any longer. She followed me as I made my escape, and I severely wounded her. Whether her teammates managed to save her, I don't know, but even so, she won't be in your way anytime soon."

The Other suddenly found the Titan's gauntleted hand around his throat, lifting him a few feet off the ground.

"I wanted the human girl to be left for me, peon," Thanos growled, "How dare you interfere."

"I apologize master," The Other gasped, "I only wished to aid you."

"You can kill whomever you want from their pathetic group of 'heroes'," Thanos spat, "As long as you leave the girl, and Loki, to me."

"As you wish, master."

Thanos released his hold from The Other's neck, letting him drop back down to the ground, before turning back around and staring out into the abyss. Once regaining his breath, The Other spoke again.

"I have also ascertained the whereabouts of another gem. As well as the Tesseract."

Thanos turned halfway back to The Other, a grin splayed across his face, "Where has Odin taken it now to keep it from me?"

"He has given it to the humans," The Other replied, "They are holding it at their base."

"Stupid mortals," Thanos laughed.

"What is your plan master?" The Other asked, "Are you going to get the Tesseract now? Or will you first obtain the next gem?"

Thanos looked back down at the infinity gauntlet for a few seconds, debating as to what to do. He figured the Tesseract wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon, he could afford to get the gem first. Perhaps he should send someone to this base to see just how protected the Tesseract was, whether he could just send them to bring it back to him.

"Amora!" Thanos called out.

A tall, beautiful woman appeared not far behind The Other, and strode forward to Thanos, her long blond hair held back with a green headband, and her dark green clothing left little to the imagination.

"You called?" she asked, her voice smooth and seductive.

"I have a job for you."


	16. Chapter 16

**You guys were **_**this close**_** to not getting an update today because my laptop was being a pain and not connecting to the internet, **_**and**_** my Word Program was broken, but I fixed both so now we can get this chapter up! Yay!**

**Meanxruki: I think your review was the fastest one I've ever gotten after updating. O.O You must read super-fast. And more Loki in this chapter!**

**harrylee94: Amora is going to make things soooo much worse. You'll see in this chapter. Let's see if I can make you explode again, I'd be on a roll!**

**Dr. Huff-Puff: Yes, Odin is a little stupid, but he's just trying his best to do the right thing. That's a flaw of his.**

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

As Olyvia began to wake, the first thing that registered was the sound of voices all around her. She recognized the voices as her sisters and then…Loki? Then she felt the pain. Her whole chest ached, more so on the left side. Her breathing became erratic as she tried to breathe at a comfortable rate, so she wasn't hurting herself, and fluttered her eyes open. She first expected to see her sisters, but they weren't by her bedside, instead, once she blinked a few times to clear her vision, she saw Steve. He was watching her with worry, and when her eyes landed on him, he visibly relaxed. Her heart began to pound wildly when she saw his hand was wrapped around hers, wondering how long he had been holding it.

"Thank god you're awake," he breathed.

Olyvia tried speaking, but her voice felt so dry, it took her a few moments, "How long have I been out?"

"Just a day," Steve replied, "but Dr. Banner was worried about possible brain damage, he…we were all hoping you'd wake up sooner."

"Brain damage?" she asked.

Steve opened his mouth to reply when he was cut off by Rosemary letting out a squeal as she popped up beside him, making him jump slightly.

"You're awake! She's awake! Dia, she's awake!"

Olyvia looked over to see that Dianne and Loki were at another hospital bed, both getting checked up on with their own injuries. Hearing that Olyvia was awake though, Dianne rushed the medic through replacing the bandage on her stomach, running over to Olyvia's bedside the moment she was free, dragging Loki behind her.

"How do you feel?" Dianne asked.

"Like I have cement blocks crushing my chest," Olyvia groaned.

Steve caressed Olyvia's hand consolingly, careful to be gentle since it was still in the splints. He didn't like seeing her in pain.

"So what was that about brain damage?" Olyvia asked.

"I'll go get Dr. Banner," Rosemary said, disappearing only to appear outside the medical ward.

Olyvia looked over to Dianne, "So how are you guys doing?"

"Good," Dianne replied, "I'm nearly ship-shape. Loki is almost completely okay, stupid Asgardian healing powers."

"Stupid?" Loki asked incredulously.

"I'm just complaining, they're not stupid, you're not stupid," Dianne said, then gave him a peck on the lips, "I'm sorry."

"I guess you're forgiven," Loki said.

Olyvia's face fell watching her sister with Loki. She couldn't deny that she was extremely jealous that Dianne had someone, and who made her so happy. She was in serious doubt about ever finding that herself. Though…Steve did seem rather concerned for her, and he was here while others weren't. But that could have just been because he blamed himself for her current situation. He was the one after all who tried telling her to stop, and what had she done, she had just went ahead and kept pushing forward.

A few minutes later Rosemary returned with Bruce, and he answered Olyvia's questions about the whole brain damage issue. Since she hadn't been breathing for a few minutes before Steve resuscitated her, and also having stopped breathing on the way back to the helicarrier due to her collapsed lung, there was great potential for there to be severe brain damage. Olyvia's face turned red at being reminded about Steve resuscitating her, since she knew what that required. Running tests, Bruce was pleased to find that the brain damage wasn't as severe as it could have been. He expected there to be hardly any difference in Olyvia than before, that she shouldn't stress over it.

Once that was over and done with, Bruce left to head back to his lab, and Dianne and Rosemary pestered Olyvia a little longer. Rosemary went into detail about what happened on the way back to the helicarrier, how scared she was for her, all the blood, and the decapitation of the Statue of Liberty. The team still didn't know how Thanos did it, but S.H.I.E.L.D was currently investigating to find those answers. As Rosemary was chatting away, Dianne glanced down and noticed that Steve was holding Olyvia's hand, and couldn't help but smile.

"Rosemary, don't you have homework you need to work on?" Dianne asked once Rosemary took a breath in her speech.

"Homework? I'm—," Rosemary stopped when she saw Dianne motioning with her head, and looked down, noticing what Dianne had, "Right, homework, yes, I'll just uh…go and…work…on that."

Getting up from her seat, Rosemary left the medical ward, heading back towards her room.

"As for you and I…we have to…eat lunch," Dianne said.

"But we—," Loki began, only to have Dianne slap a hand over his mouth.

"Let's go, see you later Livy," Dianne said, waving goodbye.

"Uh…bye," Olyvia replied, confused as to why her sisters suddenly left, and with such a lame excuse as lunch.

Pulling Loki behind her, Dianne scurried out of the room as well. Olyvia looked over to Steve. Taking a better look at him, she could see bags under his eyes, like he hadn't slept in days.

"You look exhausted," Olyvia said.

Steve ran a hand over his face, "I haven't exactly…slept since we got back."

"You haven't—Steve, go get some sleep," Olyvia ordered.

"You just woke up, I don't want to leave you alone," Steve replied.

"I'll be fine Steve," Olyvia said, "You haven't slept in…what two days? You are _not_ fine right now. Go get some sleep. I'll still be here when you wake up. It's not like I can go anywhere."

Steve didn't say anything, but he didn't look like he was going to be leaving anytime soon.

"Steve, go. To bed."

Steve smiled slightly, "Alright, since you insist."

"I do," Olyvia said, "Goodnight Steve."

"You get your rest too," Steve said.

"Will do," Olyvia replied.

Hesitating a few seconds, Steve then left the medical ward. Olyvia shifted around on the bed, trying to make herself comfortable. It was difficult, due to the amount of pain she was in, but when she finally found a comfy spot, she closed her eyes, and smiled to herself as the butterflies fluttered about in her stomach. Steve seemed rather concerned, and she couldn't help but hope…that meant something more, than being good friends.

* * *

"So where exactly are we going?" Loki asked, "Since we already ate lunch."

"Sorry, but I just wanted to give my sister some alone time with Steve," Dianne said, "I'm, really not sure what to do…give me a few moments, I'll think of something. Or why don't you come up with something, if you're going to complain."

"I'm not complaining," Loki said, "And why would you ever want to leave your sister alone with Steve? The last time that happened she nearly died. He, as well as most of his team, are not exactly the brightest of people."

"Steve isn't stupid, and Livy likes him a lot," Dianne argued.

"She _likes_ him?" Loki asked incredulously, "I thought your sister was smarter than that."

Dianne punched Loki in the shoulder, "Don't call my sister stupid. She can like who she wants."

"You don't think she could do better than a bumbling oaf?"

"He's not a bumbling oaf! How can you be so mean?"

Loki sighed, "I'm not exactly fond of anyone who is part of the Avengers."

"My sisters and I, as well as you, are part of them now," Dianne pointed out.

"You know what I meant," Loki said, "And they aren't exactly fond of me either, if you haven't noticed."

"Steve is the first who seems to have started warming up to you though," Dianne continued, "So stop being so hard on him. He's not a bad guy. He's a gentleman, and he cares about people. Could you try being nicer?"

Loki pursed his lips. Why should he be nice to them, when they weren't being nice to him in the first place?

"At least to Steve?" Dianne added, "Is that too much to ask?"

"I guess I can try," Loki sighed in defeat.

"Thank you," Dianne said, giving him a peck on the lips, "You need to get along with the team anyway."

"I thought we were done with this discussion."

"We are."

"So are we going to walk in circles, or have you decided on what you want to do?"

Dianne pursed her lips in thought, before an idea popped into her head.

"You aren't familiar with any of our technology are you?"

"No…," Loki replied hesitantly.

Grabbing his hand, Dianne led Loki down the hall, in the direction of the living quarters. It was probably about time Loki learned more of Dianne's world.

* * *

"You want to do what with this?" Loki asked as he Dianne handed him a strange shaped object.

"You hold it in your hands as so," Dianne explained, holding the Xbox 360 controller so Loki could see, "And don't worry, I'll explain all the buttons to you and go easy on you. Livy, Rosemary and I play video games quite a bit."

Loki looked at the controller skeptically, "Do I…have to?"

Dianne gave him her best puppy eyes, "I'd like it, if you'd try."

Loki sighed. He couldn't say no to that face. Heck, if she had just asked, he probably would have said yes.

"Fine," Loki agreed, "Just…don't expect me to actually enjoy this."

"Yay!" Dianne squealed, throwing her arms around Loki's neck, "Don't worry, you'll have fun."

"If you say so," Loki muttered.

* * *

Staying in the medical ward was one of the most boring things Olyvia ever had to suffer through. Though once Steve had gotten a full eight hours of sleep, he came right back to the medical ward to keep her company, and his company made it that much more tolerable. She stayed there for the next few days, when she suddenly became ill. Olyvia was willing to bet it was from having swallowed some of the water when she drowned. It tasted nasty for a reason. She had a fever of 102, and her coughing fits were causing more pain than usual, her lungs still aching from drowning. To make her more comfortable, they allowed her to go back to her room. Bruce made routine stops to make sure she was doing alright. She spent most of her time sleeping, throwing up, and watching movies. Steve made more of an effort to see her, keep an eye on her, but he ended up having to do a few jobs around the helicarrier, Fury's orders. After finishing his "chores" Steve went to Olyvia's door, knocking on it to see if she even wanted visitors. There were a few times that she didn't want anyone visiting. Hearing nothing, Steve cracked the door open. Sticking his head inside, Steve found that Olyvia was asleep, curled up on the bed, Whisper curled up next to her at her stomach, and he could hear the TV was on. Slipping inside, he shut the door behind him, in case Whisper decided to be active, and moved over to a chair that was set beside her bed. Looking at the TV, Steve knew he didn't know the movie, since he didn't know of anything anyone would actually watch nowadays. Whatever the movie was, the two characters were singing opera, the male wearing a half mask on his face. Steve actually had a guess as to what the movie possibly could be, since he had read the book, The Phantom of the Opera, back in the thirties.

Turning his attention to Olyvia, he was glad to see that she looked at peace. She had been in pain for far too long. He was glad to see she was actually sleeping too. She had such a hard time doing so when she had her coughing fits every ten minutes.

Steve's brow furrowed when he spotted a pencil in Olyvia's fingers, and taking a closer look, realized she had fallen asleep while sketching. Knowing he shouldn't, Steve started to lean back, but his curiosity was getting the better of him, and reaching over, he slid the sketchbook closer before picking it up and set it in his lap. Looking at the picture it was open to, it was a rough sketch of the masked character in the movie, holding a rose to his face, as if he were smelling it. Though it was a rough sketch, it was very well drawn, especially for having a hand still in a splint. Steve was surprised by her skill, he had no idea she was such an artist.

He started to close it, before flipping to the very front. He was going to regret this later, he figured, but right now, he was extremely curious. He blamed Stark, for rubbing off on him, otherwise, Steve didn't believe he would have done this.

The first dozen or so drawings were of family, people he didn't recognize, animals, and fantasy creatures. He stopped abruptly when he saw a face he recognized, his own. His face grew warm, and he wondered…why would she be drawing him? Maybe…she liked him? Steve would like to think that. Flipping through the pages though, he found that she had drawn everyone on the team, at least twice so he began to doubt there was any likelihood of her liking him. Opening back up to the last page, Steve set the sketchbook back where he found it, before Olyvia woke up and realized it moved.

Sitting there for a half hour, Olyvia hadn't even shifted around in her sleep she was so out of it, and Steve just stayed and watched, there in case she did wake and needed something. He nearly jumped when the music from the movie blasted from the TV, surprisingly, and suddenly, loud. Olyvia twitched, but it was Whisper who got up, stretched and began walking all over Olyvia, yowling loudly. Steve wasn't sure if he should try to stop Whisper, but it was too late anyway. Olyvia groaned pathetically, shoved the cat away, and blinked her eyes open. When she saw Steve, she blushed, and pulled her blankets up under her armpits.

"How long have you been in here?" she rasped, glancing down at the sketchbook and quickly flipping it shut.

"Um…a half hour, give or take," Steve replied, "Sorry, I was just…keeping an eye on you. I'll go if you'd like."

"Actually, could you do me a huge, huge, gigantic favor?" Olyvia asked.

"Of course," Steve replied.

"Could you get me another box of Kleenex?" Olyvia asked, holding up her empty one.

Steve smiled, "I can do that. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Thank you Steve."

Leaving the room, he was only gone for a few minutes before he returned with her Kleenex. Thanking him again, Olyvia pulled out three and blew her nose.

"I must look like a mess," Olyvia groaned, "Ugh, I would so much rather not be seen like this."

"You're sick, you can look like a mess," Steve said, "Though I don't think you do."

"Well, thank you for lying," Olyvia said.

She then went into a coughing fit, rattling her whole body, and Steve's stomach just began twisting itself into knots seeing the raw pain on Olyvia's face, her hand clutching at the hollow space below her sternum. Rolling over onto her back and stretching out, Olyvia gasped wildly for air once she finished with the coughing fit. Getting to his feet, Steve leaned over the bed and placed his hand on Olyvia's forehead, trying to gauge her temperature, and she was still burning up.

"I'm guessing there isn't anything I can do to help," Steve said.

Olyvia shook her head, "I don't think so."

Steve sat back down, and Olyvia rolled over onto her stomach and crawled closer to the nightstand, grabbed her water bottle and drank a good portion of it. Setting it back down, she curled up into a ball, crying softly to herself.

"Someone please just kill me now," Olyvia whimpered.

Steve reached over and rubbed her arm consolingly. He wished there was something he could do to take away some of her suffering. Maybe he could try distracting her from the pain.

"So what movie are you watching?" Steve asked.

"You mean what movie I'm trying to watch?" Olyvia replied, "The Phantom of the Opera. Why?"

"I read the book back in the thirties," Steve replied, "Did you ever read the book?"  
"I tried," Olyvia replied, "I got to…page three? It might have been two."

"You're not much of a reader are you?"

"Only with books I enjoy," Olyvia said, "If I don't enjoy a book, I can't read it, it's impossible. I'll never finish a book I don't like. Books I like, I'll read them over and over. Dianne is the bookworm in the family. She likes more books. I'm more of a movie fanatic."

"Do you have favorites?"

Olyvia chuckled, "I think my dislikes would make the shorter list."

"Top five then."

Olyvia thought for a good ten minutes to try to narrow down her list to top five. She just loved all her favorites so much.

"Do I have to put them in order?" she asked.

"Just five will work," Steve chuckled.

"Okay, then…Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Hunt for Red October, The Phantom of the Opera, uh…I guess I'd have to go with the entire Pirates of the Caribbean series, and…Harry Potter," Olyvia listed off, "But I assume you have no clue what any of those are."

"Just one," Steve said, and pointed to the TV.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to watch the others then," Olyvia said, scooting over across the bed, Steve dropping his arm since she was out of reach, and reached into drawer on the nightstand.

Shuffling through the drawer, she pulled out a movie, and tossed it towards the foot of the bed, "We'll watch that one next."

Looking at the cover, Steve saw it was the Robin Hood one she mentioned. Olyvia got herself comfortable again, laying on her side across the bed, and Whisper laid back down against the curve of her stomach.

"If you have any questions about the movies, you are welcome to ask," Olyvia said as she began to pet Whisper, "Since you aren't my sister, I will allow that."

"She asks a lot of questions while watching movies?"

"Oh yeah, a lot," Olyvia replied with a groan.

"I will do my best not to ask questions," Steve said, "I can see it annoys you."

"Only because she won't wait to see whether her question will be answered," Olyvia replied, "You are just so far behind with the technology and stuff, I expect you will have many questions."

Steve chuckled, "I'm already starting to get a few."

"Oh?"

Steve held up the DVD, "How do they get the big reels of film on this thing?"

Olyvia laughed a little. This was going to take a while. Not that she cared though, she was with Steve and she was going to enjoy every second.

* * *

Having finally found the helicarrier, Amora used her magic to gain entrance. Once inside, she concealed herself and followed the beacon of energy the Tesseract was giving off. Smiling to herself, she laughed at the notion that Thanos honestly expected her to bring the Tesseract to him, if she were able to get to it. With the power it would give her, she could just keep it and have no fear of Thanos coming to take it from her, she would be unstoppable.

Walking through the halls, she encountered few people on her way, and she simply just stepped aside to let them past. Causing an uproar would only make it more difficult to obtain the Tesseract.

Finally, she reached a well secured area, in a restricted section of the ship, where she could feel the Tesseract's energy even stronger. It wasn't far. Trying to use her magic against the door, she found it didn't work, and her brow furrowed in confusion. Why wouldn't her magic work? Unless…they had taken precautions because Loki was on the ship. Morphing her appearance while still concealed, she made herself appear as Loki, before placing a hand against the door. She felt her powers start draining from her, and her concealment disappeared. She pulled her hand away just in time before her disguise faded away as well. She recognized the magic used on the door though. Odin. So he had been, or still was, here on this ship. She knew there would be no way she could get through defenses Odin himself put up so she had no choice but to return to Thanos and inform him of what she found. Only Thanos with the infinity gauntlet at this point would be able to get to the Tesseract. She was so close too!

Just as she turned to leave, an alarm started blaring. She smiled. Loki was going to be in so much trouble, just as she wanted. Concealing herself, she then made her escape, opening up a portal to take her back to Thanos.

* * *

Hearing the alarm, Olyvia jolted out of her stupor of just lying lethargically on the bed, the adrenaline rush having woken her up. Steve, who was still there, jumped to his feet and was about to head out the door when the pager he had been given went off. With a sigh, he grabbed it and tried to figure it out. He didn't like this thing mainly because he had so much trouble using it.

"Want me to check?" Olyvia asked.

Steve tossed it over to Olyvia, and pushing a few buttons, looked at the message, her brow furrowing.

"Loki? Level D1? What does that mean?" she asked.

Steve cursed under his breath, "He must have tried to get the Tesseract. I knew bringing it on board was a bad idea."

Olyvia handed back the pager, and not caring that she was in her black sweat pants and a long sleeved white t-shirt, barefoot and her hair in a mess, she got to her feet.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you think you're going?" Steve asked.

"I'm going to check it out," Olyvia replied, slipping past Steve and out the door, "I don't think Loki would do that. Where is this level D1…oh, that's what those letters and numbers are for. I feel really dumb now."

"Livy, you are not going anywhere, you're in no shape to—,"

"To fight? You really think Loki is going to fight us?" Olyvia asked incredulously as she continued down the hall.

"If he really is trying to get the Tesseract, yes!" Steve replied, catching up to Olyvia and grabbing her by the arm to stop her, "Livy, go back to your room."

"Again, since when were you my mother?" Olyvia rebutted.

"Guys, what's going on?" they heard Dianne ask from behind Steve.

Steve turned around, and seeing Loki, started walking over to him when he stopped. They were being called to a lower level of a ship because they believed Loki to be there. He was a master of magic though, he could have quickly made it back up here. Walking right up to Loki, he pushed him against the wall using his forearm against Loki's chest.

"I knew we couldn't trust you," Steve seethed.

"Whoa! Steve, what the hell?" Dianne asked.

"He just tried getting the Tesseract," Steve replied.

Loki's brow furrowed, "What?"

"Uh, yeah, what?" Dianne also asked, "Now? He's been playing Halo with me for the last two hours."

"He plays Halo?" Olyvia asked.

"I've been teaching him," Dianne said, and added in a whisper, "He's a slow learner."

"Then why does Fury believe he was down there?" Steve asked.

"Well, I guess we go and ask him then," Dianne said.

Loki began to panic, and pushing Steve away, grabbed Dianne as she tried walking away, "No, you stay here, let the others see what is going on."

"Loki, I'm here to help defend you, I need to be there to say you had absolutely nothing to do with whatever just happened," Dianne rebutted, gently removing his hand from her arm, "So I'm going. Nothing you say is going to change my mind."

Loki considered telling her that she would be hurt, possibly killed, if Fury really believed he had anything to do with the current situation, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it. He didn't want to frighten her, discovering that her life had been in jeopardy the last six weeks.

Dianne started heading down the hall, and Olyvia followed. Steve cursed under his breath seeing Olyvia wasn't listening to him, again, and began trying to get her to go back to her room. Loki, knowing it would only look bad for him if he didn't go, forced himself to follow, catching up to Dianne, who then wrapped her hand around his.

"It'll be okay Loki," Dianne assured him.

"I certainly hope so."

As they were reaching the lower levels of the ship, they ran into the remainder of the team, Fury right behind them, dressed in their suits so they most likely had just come from training, and all but Rosemary turned to Loki, preparing to attack if needed.

"Hold on just a second guys," Dianne said, stepping in front of Loki to block the others from having a clear shot, "There must be some mistake."

"Oh, there is no mistake," Fury said.

"Prove it," Dianne spat, glaring daggers at the director.

Fury clenched his jaw, and after a few moments, told the team to stand down. Stark lowered his arm, and Clint put away the arrow he had knocked. Natasha was last to holster her gun, keeping a sharp eye on Loki.

"Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton, please escort Loki to the conference room," Fury ordered.

The two agents moved forward, pushing past Dianne and roughly grabbed Loki, pinning his arms behind his back as the turned him back around and headed back up the hall. Everyone else also headed to the conference room, wanting an explanation as well. Once inside the conference room though, and the doors were locked, Fury nodded to Natasha, and she handed Loki over to Clint, before she suddenly grabbed Dianne, wrapping and arm around her neck, and placed the gun to her head.

"What the hell?" Dianne screeched.

Loki tried to break free from Clint, but one sharp look from Fury and he stopped. He didn't want to give Fury any more reason to hurt Dianne. Olyvia looked like she was about to rip Natasha apart as she began to stomp over to her, before Steve grabbed her to stop her.

"Fury, you have ten seconds to explain why Natasha has a gun to my sister's head before I start killing people," Olyvia seethed.

"About a month ago Loki made a deal that would allow him to be on the helicarrier without a constant supervision," Fury began, "And in order to make sure he would behave, I had to take certain measures."

"You threatened my sister's _life_ in order to keep him under control?" Olyvia shouted incredulously, "You're a bastard Fury!"

"Language!" Rosemary exclaimed.

"I don't give a damn about language right now Rosemary!" Olyvia snapped, "There is a gun pointed at Dianne's head!"

Fury turned to Loki, "You know what has to be done, now that you've broken that deal."

"And just what have I done that makes you believe I have broken that?" Loki challenged.

Grabbing a remote, Fury hit a button and the screen at the front of the room turned on, bringing up a visual of recorded security footage of where the Tesseract was being held. Watching it, no one saw anything for a few seconds, when suddenly Loki appeared on the screen, his hand on the door, trying to get in. Loki's eyes widened when he saw it. He knew that it wasn't him, but he had no idea who it possibly was that could have disguised themselves as him. Dianne's brow furrowed in confusion.

"And this…just happened?" Dianne asked.

"Within the last ten minutes, yes," Fury replied.

"Then that isn't Loki, he was with me the last two hours!" Dianne exclaimed.

Fury looked skeptical, but Steve also chipped in.

"He was in the upper level of the helicarrier right when the alarm went off sir," Steve said, "It's not very likely it was him."

Stark, Bruce and Loki all looked over in shock at Steve. They weren't expecting him to come to Loki's defense. Thor, meanwhile, looked worried for his brother. He wasn't sure what to think. He knew his brother could have relapsed, but he honestly believed that his brother was good and had changed for the better.

"Then how would you explain this?" Fury asked, pointing at the screen.

Steve clenched his jaw shut. That he couldn't explain.

"It isn't me, director," Loki said, hoping the man would listen to him because if anything happened to Dianne…he couldn't live with himself.

"Would _you_ care to explain how?" Fury asked.

"There are others who are masters of magic," Loki said, "Quite possibly working for Thanos and if that is the case, he knows where the Tesseract is, and where we are and can attack any time. So just please…leave Dianne alone."

Fury said nothing, just watching Loki with an intense gaze, and the tension grew thick in the room as the others waited for him to say something. After a few minutes, Fury nodded to Natasha, and she released Dianne, who shot a glare at her once she was free.

"Even if it wasn't you Loki, I still have to take the precautions as though you did," Fury said.

Loki opened his mouth to say something, but before he could utter a word, Fury pulled out a handgun and fired. Rosemary screamed as Dianne crumpled to the ground, her hands clutching at the bullet wound in her gut.

"Dianne!" Loki cried out, pulling against Clint's hold on him.

Stark, Bruce and Thor just stared in shock over what had just happened, Olyvia let out a feral scream as she lunged at Fury, and Steve just went ahead and let her go. He was pretty pissed about what Fury had just done as well. Fury looked like he was about to shoot Olyvia as well before she tackled him to the ground and began wailing on him. Clint let go of Loki to stop Olyvia, and Loki ran over to Dianne's side. Natasha also ran over to help Clint, and with the two of them, they pulled Olyvia off of Fury. She tried breaking away from the two to get back at Fury, but they just barely managed to keep a hold of her, which was probably only possible because Olyvia wasn't at her best at the moment. Getting back to his feet, Fury wiped away the blood from his split lip.

"Take her back to her room," Fury ordered, "and lock her in there."

"You…you…you are a horrible person!" Rosemary shouted, blasting Fury into the wall with the last word. She was shaking in anger she was so mad.

"Calm down kiddo," Stark said, placing a hand on Rosemary's shoulder, "Don't want to get yourself into trouble too."

Rosemary wanted to argue, and just beat the hell out of Fury, but she knew Stark was right. There wasn't anything she could do, despite how much Fury deserved it. There was no way she was going to put any trust in Fury now, or even listen to him.

Dianne, though she was in extreme pain, she wasn't about to let Fury get away with that either and wanted to have a go at him as well. She was _pissed_ at the guy, and reaching into her pocket, pulled out the bouncy ball she had been carrying around with her, just in case. Using up the last of her energy, she imbued the item with the charge, and then rolled it towards Fury. No one noticed, except Rosemary, and she began backing up, pushing Stark back with her. The ball rolled to a stop next to Fury's right foot, and as he was barking more orders at Clint and Natasha, it blew up, sending him flying backwards.

"Agent Dianne Harris, you are pushing your luck," Fury threatened as he picked himself off the floor, patting out the flames on his duster. His right hand was burned slightly from the blast and his pants and bottom of his duster were charred.

"Bastard," Dianne growled weakly.

Natasha and Clint were still trying to get Olyvia out the door, but she was putting up a fight, her rage blinding her, wanting to have another go at Fury. Not wanting the two agents to cause Olyvia any more harm in her current state, Steve went over and pulled her away from the other two, wrapping his arms around her to keep her still.

"Just calm down Livy, calm down," Steve said quietly.

Olyvia burst into tears, burying her face against Steve's chest. Taking a few moments to let her calm down, Steve led her out of the room. Loki meanwhile, tried to keep Dianne calm so she wouldn't go into hysterics. When the others went to try to help, Loki snapped at them, telling them to stay away. Gingerly picking her up, Loki hurried out of the room to take her to the medical ward. Bruce, Stark, Thor and Rosemary all looked over to Fury for a few seconds before leaving the room as well. Right now, they had lost all respect for the man.

* * *

Reaching the medical ward, Loki set Dianne down onto one of the beds, and the medics in the room rushed over to see what was wrong before they ran to get supplies. When they came back to the bed, they asked Loki to step back, and once he did they pulled the curtain around the bed. Taking in deep breaths, Loki tried to calm himself. He was absolutely livid at Fury, for what he did. And Loki hadn't even done anything. It was driving him crazy that he couldn't figure out who had disguised themselves as him, and because of that, Dianne was hurt. Looking down at his hands, his anger spiked, seeing Dianne's blood on his hands. If Fury ever hurt Dianne again, Loki would kill him, that was a promise.

* * *

Reaching Olyvia's room, Steve gently sat her down on her bed. She was still crying, overwhelmed with everything that had been going on, which wasn't good in her current state. She started having another coughing fit, gasping for air in between each cough. When it finally died down, she drank another good portion of her water bottle to sooth her throat. Grabbing a wad of tissues, she blew her nose, then wiped away her tears with a hand before flopping down onto her back.

"I hate Fury," Olyvia said barely above a whisper.

"I don't approve of what he did either," Steve said, taking a seat next to the bed again, "I'm sorry about Dianne."

Olyvia nodded, "Are you going to lock me in here like Fury ordered?"

Steve pursed his lips. He certainly didn't want to, because he knew she would want to see how her sister was doing rather soon.

"Well, I think that order was directed to Natasha and Clint, not me, so no," Steve replied.

Olyvia smiled weakly, "You are just about the one person I trust on this carrier."

"You don't trust your sisters?" Steve asked teasingly.

"You know what I meant," Olyvia said, rolling her eyes.

"I do, and thank you," Steve said, reaching over and wrapping his hand around Olyvia's.

She smiled again, and tightened her hand around Steve's as best as she could being in a splint. She was grateful to have him as a friend, but after this rift Fury caused in the team by the act he had committed, she wondered what would become of them, as a team. She knew she couldn't work for Fury as she had before, neither would her sisters. Trying to keep Loki in line, he inevitably ruined his chances of having a cohesive team who had a chance at defeating Thanos. As much as Olyvia would miss Steve, she was seriously considering heading back home.

* * *

Loki waited impatiently in the medical ward while the medics worked on removing the bullet. Though he had cleaned off his hands, every time he looked at them all he could see was Dianne's blood. The guilt was just eating away inside of him. He should have tried harder to convince Fury he had done nothing wrong, he should have tried stopping it. His feelings fluctuated from guilt to anger, and by the time the medics had finished stabilizing Dianne, he had put crescent shape cuts in his hands from how tightly he had his fists balled up. Once the curtains were drawn back, Loki jumped up from his seat and rushed over to her side, wrapping a hand tightly around hers as he smoothed down her hair with the other. Dianne was just coming out from the anesthesia, her eyes trying to focus on her surroundings. When they finally focused on Loki, she gave a weak groan.

"I'm so sorry Dianne," Loki apologized, resting his forehead against hers as he gently caressed her face, "I never meant for you to get hurt, and all because of me. I'll never forgive myself."

"I'm going to kill Fury," Dianne said weakly.

"You can have your turn after me," Loki replied.

"You'd have to fight my dad for that right," Dianne said, "I say he gets first dibs. Oh, Fury doesn't know what is going to be coming to him when we get our weekly phone call. He is so dead, like five times over, and then my grandpa will have his go in the afterlife."

The slightest smile tugged at Loki's lips. He was glad to see she still had that attitude of hers. He would have thought she would be in more of hysterics over being shot by someone she was supposed to trust. She obviously didn't trust Fury from the start.

"So how are you feeling?" Loki asked.

"Sore," she replied, "And I know this will take weeks to heal. So I'll be out of commission for even longer now. Great plan Fury, shows how smart you are."

Loki lifted his head and looked down at Dianne's stomach where he knew the wound was. He didn't want to see her in this pain, and he gently placed his hand over the area. Dianne cringed, "Loki, that hurts."

She suddenly felt a cold sensation around the wound, and a tingling feeling spreading through her body. The pain intensified for a few seconds before it completely disappeared, and Loki removed his hand, taking hold of her hand once more.

"Is that better?" he asked.

"Yeah…what did you do?"

"I am a master of magic, remember."

"Oh…and why haven't you used this before?" Dianne asked.

"I don't necessarily need to use it on myself, my body already heals fast enough," Loki explained, "And I have been using some on you to help your previous injuries heal, you just never noticed."

"Why didn't you ever tell me this before?"

"I didn't quite see any need to."

Dianne sighed with a huff, "So you could help Livy too."

"I could."

"Then could you?"

"If that's what you want," Loki replied.

"Next time she punches Fury I want her to hit him with her full strength," Dianne said.

Loki smiled, "Then next time I see her, I'll do what I can."

"Thank you," Dianne said quietly, her eyes fluttering shut.

"Tired?"

"A little."

Bending down, Loki tenderly kissed Dianne's forehead in a display of affection, moving his hand to smooth down her hair again, "Then rest."

She opened her eyes just enough to see Loki's face, and reaching up with a hand, cupped his face, and pulled him down so his lips landed on hers.

"Will you be here when I wake up?" she asked, shutting her eyes again.

"I will," Loki promised.

As she laid there, Loki could see she was still uncomfortable, possibly still in some pain. Though he may have healed her wound, it would still be sore for few days at least, which would cause some discomfort.

"I'm sorry," Loki apologized again.

"Stop apologizing, you're forgiven," Dianne muttered, her words slightly slurred together in her lethargy.

"I can't forgive myself," Loki said, "I just feel so guilty. I can't stand seeing you hurt like this because…because I love you Dianne."

Loki looked at Dianne's face to see what sort of reaction he got from her, but her face was completely placid. Loki sighed in disbelief.

"You just fell asleep didn't you?"

She didn't move, not even a twitch, and Loki sighed again.

"Of course."


	17. Chapter 17

**I can't wait until Tuesday! As a belated birthday gift from my husband (which was yesterday), I'll be getting Avengers, and I wants it so much! EEEEEEEEE! Okay, now that I've gotten that out of my system.**

**Meanxruki: Not much Loki x Dianne this chapter. Sorry. But they are so cute!**

**KaityMaxz: Hahaha, rejected by sleep, I like that. And thank you so much! I'm glad to know my OC's are likeable. And if you like Steve x Olyvia, then you'll probably really like this chapter.**

**alleycat2834: Yeah, that's kind of the reaction I expected from people last chapter.**

**Dr. Huff-Puff: I hope you were able to sleep. Causing insomnia was not my intent.**

**sam-makes-pancakes: Yeah…I expect people to not like Fury so much now in my fic. It wasn't on purpose, it just had to happen.**

**harrylee94: I am on a roll! *snickers* I'm getting better at this. And Loki will get his chance…next chapter. I know, I'm horrible and I take forever.**

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

Steve had kept Olyvia company for a few hours after the Fury, Dianne incident, and when there was a knock at her door, Olyvia was worried that it was Fury, or Natasha or Clint come to remove Steve from the room so she could be locked in there. Upon opening the door, Steve was surprised to see Loki standing there.

"What are you doing here?" Steve asked.

"What, I'm not allowed to visit?" Loki rebutted.

"You don't visit me Loki," Olyvia said weakly from the bed, "So what do you want?"

"I'm here because Dianne asked a favor of me," Loki replied, "To help you."

"Help me how?" Olyvia asked, "Do you have really strong drugs or something?"

Loki's brow furrowed in confusion, "I do not understand what you just said, but I believe the answer is a no."

"Then what?" Olyvia asked.

Loki turned to Steve, his expression asking if he could be allowed in, and Steve stepped aside. The instant Loki stepped foot inside the room, Whisper jumped off the bed and ran over to him, stopping at his feet, and rolled over onto her back and onto his feet.

"What are with these creatures and their magnetism towards me?" Loki asked irritably.

Olyvia snickered, which only led to a few coughs, "I think it's cute. You can just shove her off though."

Doing just that, Loki moved to the bed, "I'll need to hold your hands."

Olyvia sat up and held out her hands, and Loki wrapped his around them.

"Wow, your skin is cold," Olyvia commented.

"That's due to the Jotun in me," Loki said, "Now stop talking so I can concentrate."

"Jotun? What's that?" Olyvia asked.

Loki sighed, "What did I say?"

"Sorry, shutting up now."

Olyvia waited a few moments for something to happen, when pain suddenly erupted in her hands, shooting all the way up her bones into her shoulders. She cringed, and that was when Steve became worried.

"What are you doing to her?" Steve asked, ready to shove Loki away if needed.

"It hurts only for a moment," Loki explained.

"It's okay Steve," Olyvia quickly said, seeing the panic and anger flit across Steve's face, "It's already gone away. Don't freak out."

Steve took in a deep breath, and a step back. He was going to trust Loki, as hard as that was for him at the moment, but the God of Mischief had proven to be quite…well, trusting over the last month. And even with the whole Loki trying to get the Tesseract ordeal, Steve still had some trust in him. It just didn't make sense to him, how he could have done it anyway.

After a few seconds, the tingling feeling in her body dissipated, and Loki pulled back his hands. Spending almost a minute undoing the splint on one hand, Olyvia moved her fingers around, her eyes growing wide.

"You healed them?" Olyvia asked.

"I am a master of Magic, so I know healing spells," Loki said.

"This would have been helpful earlier, you know," Olyvia said with a frown.

"This magic is very draining so I can heal one remaining injury if you wish, or I can leave you to your misery," Loki replied.

Olyvia thought for a few seconds before saying, "Do I have to remove my shirt?"

Loki shook his head.

"Well then, okay," Olyvia said, and pointed to the left side of her upper rib cage, "Right here."

Loki glanced over to Steve, to see he didn't look happy about Loki touching Olyvia. With a small sigh, Loki placed his hand where Olyvia specified, and after a few seconds, she cringed again, a small hiss escaping her lips. Again, Steve looked uncomfortable, not liking what Loki was doing at all. But as before, it lasted only a few seconds, and when Loki pulled his hand away, he slumped over slightly, visibly drained. Olyvia took in a deep breath, and flopped down onto her back.

"Oh I feel so much better," she said with a long sigh, "Thank you."

"I'm leaving now," Loki said wearily as he turned around and headed to the door.

"You're welcome Olyvia, it was nothing, really," Olyvia said sarcastically.

Loki stopped in the open doorway with a sigh, "You're welcome."

"Now that wasn't so hard, now was it?"

With another sigh, Loki just shook his head and continued on his way. Once he was gone, Steve sat back down on the edge of the bed beside Olyvia.

"Are you really feeling better?" Steve asked.

"A lot better," Olyvia replied, "I still feel sick, and my ribcage still hurts, but the stab injury is all healed up, and that's what really matters. I feel really sleeping now though so I'm just…going to…sleep."

Rolling over onto her side, she threw her blankets over herself and closed her eyes.

"I'll let you sleep," Steve said, getting back to his feet, "I'll see you later."

"Bye Steve," Olyvia replied sleepily.

Reaching the doorway, Steve hesitated a few moments before stepping outside, and shut the door behind him.

* * *

Rosemary paced back and forth in her room, stomping her feet against the thin carpeted floor. Instead of being taken to a cell for her outburst against Fury, she had elected to stay locked in her room when given the choice. She was absolutely steaming over what Fury had done. He didn't even let Loki have a chance to clear his name, and it was obvious to her that he wouldn't have put Dianne in danger since it was her safety that Fury threatened. With a frustrated scream, she kicked the door as she walked up to it, turning back around and stomping over to the bed. That was it, she was leaving. She didn't care if Fury needed her help, she wouldn't help someone who hurt her sisters, his own people. He had gone too far. Pulling her suitcases from underneath the bed, she flipped open the lids, and began tossing in clothes from the nearest dresser, startling T.C a little from shaking the furniture. She had cleared out one dresser when she heard her door open. Turning around, she crossed her arms as she gave Fury her best death glare, a feral growl rumbling in her throat. He had changed from his burned clothing into similar, pristine ones, but his skin was still burned and charred slightly.

"Think you're going somewhere?" he asked.

"Home," Rosemary replied sharply, "You think I'm going to stay here and follow your orders anymore? You shot my _sister_. I don't care if a monster is going to destroy the world anymore, you can take care of him yourself. I am officially no longer helping you."

Fury's eye narrowed at her, and strode towards her until he backed her up against her dresser, "You think you can leave so easily?"

"I don't expect it to be easy exactly, but I'm going to," Rosemary replied, turning her face up to continue glaring at him, "And I'm sure my sisters feel exactly the same."

"None of you will be leaving," Fury said, "You all still work for me."

"I don't work for people who hurt their own," Rosemary rebutted, "And we most certainly won't work as a cohesive team now, thanks to you, so congratulations, you just ruined your chances of saving the world. Good luck with Thanos on your own."

She turned around and started grabbing more clothes, when Fury spoke again.

"You will only return home once I allow it."

Clenching her hands into fists, Rosemary turned back around to look Fury in the eye. Neither said anything for the few moments they glared at each other. Behind her, Rosemary could hear T.C get up and start sniffling, and she couldn't help but crack a smile when she suddenly sneezed, and all over Fury's face. Fury closed his eye, making a face of disgust before he took a few steps back.

"You will remain in here until you're called for," Fury said as he turned around and swept out of the room.

Once the door shut, Rosemary walked over crouched down so she was looking down at the bottom left corner of the door, where a she had placed a small piece of metal when she was first taken into the room. She could just barely see through the small crevice created by the door being off.

"All I need to get out of here, is just the tiniest glimpse of outside."

* * *

Once Dianne woke up, she found Fury there, and he gave her a rather long winded speech that once summarized, basically said that if she had any ideas of leaving, that wasn't going to happen. She would stay and fulfill her duty as a S.H.I.E.L.D agent and deal with Thanos, and only after that, would she and her family be allowed to leave. All Dianne had to say to that was good luck to them working together. She wasn't stupid, she knew Clint and Natasha were also in on Loki's deal, and they would have hurt, or killed, her themselves if they were told. Working with them was also going to be problematic. She couldn't trust them anymore.

Olyvia got the same spiel, only she tried throwing another punch at him when he said she wasn't allowed to go home. He quickly stepped out of the room and locked her in there, and walked away as she screamed obscenities at him.

It was a few days before any of the girls were allowed from their rooms, once they had calmed down. By then Olyvia was starting to feel much better, nearly over her sickness. She refused to speak with Clint or Natasha, or even train with them. All three sisters well kept their distance from the two master assassins. Training wasn't a priority for the girls anymore. Rosemary spent time in Stark's lab helping him out with gadgets and gizmos, both of them entertaining the thought of using them against Fury, or just to annoy the hell out of him. Stark also helped Rosemary with her homework, since the genius didn't seem to mind it. Dianne did her usual thing, spending time with Loki, the two doing their best to avoid Fury. As for Olyvia, though she wasn't interested in training with her "teachers", she needed to vent her anger in a less physically harmful way, and headed down to the gym to work out a little with the punching bag, since she didn't have a partner. Even with her ribs aching, begging for her to stop after throwing just a few punches, she pushed through it. By the time she exhausted herself, which was considerably shorter than if she were in perfect health, breathing was excruciatingly painful. Taking a moment to sit down, she couldn't help but laugh a little thinking about how Steve would react if he knew what she had done. He was always fretting over her, more so when she was just the slightest bit uncomfortable or in pain. She was sure he would be berating her right now for overdoing it and hurting herself.

After resting for half an hour, she was feeling better, and got up and began punching and kicking at the punching bag again. Not five minutes into her second bout, she heard the hiss of the doors opening, and she froze. She didn't even have to look to know who it was, but she looked anyway.

"Uh oh…," she muttered to herself, seeing Steve walking over towards her.

"I thought you were still sick," Steve said.

"It's just a little cough now," Olyvia said through her labored breathing, "It's really only the cracked ribs that are still hurting me."

Steve's face crumpled in guilt, and Olyvia smacked the palm of her hand to her forehead.

"That's not what I meant," Olyvia said, running her hand down her face, "I'm not blaming you. Not at all. You saved my life. I don't care about the cracked ribs. They are hurting, yes, but that wasn't meant as a jab at you. Just a fact. Because I've been…maybe…overdoing it…a bit…with the punching bag."

Steve sighed, and Olyvia noted how frustrated he sounded, "Olyvia…why must you do this to yourself."

"Hey, it was either this, or Fury's face," Olyvia rebutted, "And as much as I would have preferred it be Fury, I would have been locked away for that, so the punching bag ended up with the short stick."

"Unfortunately," Steve muttered, glancing over at said punching bag and seeing sand seeping out from cracks in the leather from Olyvia beating on it so hard.

"So are you here to lecture me back to my room to get my rest, your usual spiel?" Olyvia asked.

Steve pursed his lips, "You should still be resting."

"Well, thanks to Loki, I'm just about healed up," Olyvia rebutted, "I figured I could get away with a little bit of physical exertion and vent my anger. Maybe not as therapeutic as punching Fury in the face, but it works."

"How about something a little less stressing on your body, like drawing," Steve suggested, moving behind Olyvia and grabbed onto her shoulders to steer her to the door.

Olyvia frowned, "Not as therapeutic, but fine, I'll go back to my room and rest, _Mom_."

Steve sighed, "You're never going to drop that are you?"

"Only when you stop mothering me," Olyvia replied, slapping his hands away from her shoulders as she continued walking forward through the hallways.

"Again, I will say, I'm not mothering you, I'm just expressing my concern."

"In a very maternal manner, so therefore, mothering."

Steve sighed in frustration again. She just didn't understand. She could understand, if only Steve could get his thoughts working together in a cohesive manner so he could actually speak properly and not make a fool of himself. He failed at that spectacularly, especially when speaking to a woman.

Trying desperately to come up with some way to start the conversation he wanted to have, he stayed silent for quite a few minutes as he followed her, and Olyvia thought he was trying to come up with some sort of argument.

"See, you can't even argue," Olyvia said as she turned to face him as she reached her bedroom door.

"That's not what I'm trying to do," Steve said, frustrated more with himself more than anyone.

"Well, why don't you give yourself a day to figure out what it is you're trying to do," Olyvia said, "Meanwhile, _I_ will do as my mother tells me and go to bed."

As she turned her back to him, Steve panicked slightly. He didn't want to miss his chance _again_. But he just wasn't good with words. So instead, he did the one thing he knew would get the message he wanted to send, across to her, without the need for many words. Grabbing her by the arm, he turned her back around to face him, and kissed her. He felt her freeze, either in shock or disgust, he didn't know and he had to admit, he was a little scared to find out which one it was.

"I love you Olyvia," Steve said breathlessly once he pulled away, staring into her grey-blue eyes, wide with shock.

She just continued to stare, and blink up at him, her lips moving ever so slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Steve asked quietly after a few moments of silence.

"I-I-I uh…I-I can't…exactly…," she swallowed hard to wet her throat, "f-form a…coherent sentence…right now. I-I'm s-s-sure you don't want me…babbling. I'm not q-q-quite sure…what to… think."

Steve could feel his heart starting to grow heavy in his chest, "Do you have no feelings for me?"

"That's not it," Olyvia said, shaking her head, "Just…give me a moment to…collect my words. You kind of…jumbled them up."

Taking in deep breaths, she tried to clear her head, put it back on straight essentially, but having Steve still so close, breathing in his scent, feeling the warmth of his body emanating from him, it was still extremely hard to think. It took a few moments, but she finally recovered enough from the initial shock of the kiss to speak full, fluent sentences.

"Steve…I do like you," Olyvia confessed, and she could feel the butterflies spilling out of her ears as her stomach began to do somersaults, "I've never felt this way about anyone so I don't…I don't know what to make of it, whether it's just like a lot…or love. I just don't know."

That certainly wasn't the answer Steve was hoping for, but it was considerably better than the one he was expecting. He was afraid that she simply saw him as a friend, and nothing more. Bending down, he tenderly kissed Olyvia again, this time receiving a little more of a response as she hesitantly kissed him back. Olyvia was sure she'd fall over any second from how weak her legs became, and once he pulled away, backed up against her door as she blindly looked for the handle to open it.

"I think I'm going to…lay down for a while," she said breathlessly.

Steve let his arms drop back to his sides as Olyvia finally managed to open her door, and slipped inside. Once her door shut, Steve headed to his own room. He needed some time to think. As much as he was delighted in the fact that she didn't reject him outright, he was still a little depressed that she didn't know how exactly she felt about him. All he could hope for was that giving her some time she would be able to determine exactly how she felt, and that she reciprocated his feelings.

* * *

Olyvia spent an hour just staring up at her ceiling. She couldn't rest at all. Her heart wouldn't stop pounding in her chest, and her whole body felt like it just…would burst at the seams she felt so… happy. Steve liked her. No, not liked, he _loved_ her, and she knew it had to take a lot of guts for him to tell her that. She wished she could have said she loved him back, but she didn't know what love felt like. She loved her family, but that was a different kind of love, you couldn't help but love them. With Steve, she always felt happy around him, except for when he started annoying her with his constant worrying, but that was only because of his feelings towards her. She enjoyed his company, and they got along very well. Everyone had their moments when they butted heads, and they had those, it was just a part of life and associating with others. But did all those combined mean she loved him?

With a frustrated cry, Olyvia rolled over onto her stomach as she pulled at her hair. Why did feelings have to be so complicated? Why couldn't it be easy to know exactly what ones feelings were towards another? It would make life so much easier. At least for Olyvia, right at that moment. She didn't want to hurt Steve's feelings be saying she didn't love him. It wasn't like she didn't _like_ him, she did, and a lot, but…love took time. It didn't just happen right away, at least not the kind that lasted…right? Letting out a groan, Olyvia wrapped her pillow around her face. She was starting to confuse herself. She suddenly popped upright when she was struck with an idea. She would go talk to Dianne.

Running from the room, Olyvia searched the helicarrier for her sister and her Asgardian boyfriend, finally finding the two ten minutes later in one of the lounges.

"Dia, I need to talk to you," Olyvia said, grabbing her sister by her upper arm and began pulling her away, "Privately."

"Whoa, easy Livy," Dianne said as she stumbled over her feet, shooting an apologetic look to Loki for being drug away, "What is the emergency?"

Moving to the other corner in the room, as far away as they could get from Loki so he couldn't overhear, or at least Olyvia hoped he couldn't, she let go of her sister, and began tugging at a lock of hair, becoming nervous all over again. After a few moments of silence, Dianne sighed.

"Livy, if you're not going to talk, I'm going to go back to Loki."

"Steve kissed me," Olyvia blurted out, though in a whisper so Loki wouldn't hear.

Dianne froze, her eyes growing wide, "He what?"

"Kissed me," Olyvia repeated.

"I thought you would be happy about that," Dianne said, a little confused as to why her sister seemed so worried and frantic, "Like dancing about and screaming to the high heavens how happy you were because Steve kissed you. I thought you liked him."

"I do, but…that's sort of the problem."

"How so?" Dianne asked, becoming even more confused.

"He…he told me he loved me Dianne," Olyvia replied quietly.

Dianne's mouth formed into an "O" as it all clicked together, "You…didn't say it back…did you?"

"I don't know if I love him so I didn't," Olyvia said, "I couldn't say it not knowing if that was how I really felt. Why say it and then discover later that I'm not?"

Dianne raised an eyebrow, looking at her sister skeptically, "Livy, when have you ever not been in love with Steve? You were practically head over heels for him before you even knew his name!"

Olyvia blushed, "That was only the physical attraction, nowhere near to love."

"Okay, whatever, still you like him a lot more than just a schoolgirl crush," Dianne said, "And why did you come to me anyway?"

Olyvia strummed her fingers together as she delayed a few moments before replying, "I thought that maybe you would be able to help me since…well…I thought you would know what it felt like to love someone…because of Loki. You do love him right? Because otherwise I'm going to have to wait until I can call Mom."

Dianne's face turned beet red, glancing over her shoulder to double check that Loki couldn't overhear any of this. He wasn't even looking at them, staring at the wall, waiting patiently for Dianne to be finished.

"It really is a personal thing to discover on your own," Dianne replied, "Only you will determine whether it is love, or just like a lot."

"You're not really helping," Olyvia bemoaned.

Dianne sighed, "What do you want me to say?"

"How do you feel, when you're around Loki?"

Biting her lower lip, Dianne thought over that for a few seconds before she answered.

"Well…for one, I can't help but smile when I just think about him," Dianne said, a smile spreading across her lips at the same moment, "And…well, I'm happy when I'm with him, he makes me smile and laugh. And I love his hugs. I like cuddling now. Well, as long as it's Loki. I still don't want you hugging me."

"Yeah, you're definitely in love," Olyvia muttered.

"And I really can't…imagine life without him anymore," Dianne added, "It's almost like…he's become a part of me…I really don't know how else to explain it."

Silence fell between them, Dianne breaking it nearly a minute later.

"So did that help?" Dianne asked.

"Have you told Loki you love him?" Olyvia asked.

Dianne shrunk down slightly, "Um…not when he was actually…awake. I-I'm too scared to say it first, because…what if he doesn't feel the same way?"

"Then you'll feel like Steve does right now, miserable," Olyvia sighed heavily, "Ugh, I feel terrible. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings like that."

"Well, maybe you should go and try to make sense of that brain of yours and what it's trying to tell you what I think is the obvious answer, and go talk to him."

Olyvia nodded, "Right…I'll just…go and do that."

Leaving her sister, Olyvia headed back to her room, laying back down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. She found she couldn't think though in the dead silence. Sitting up, she grabbed her laptop, and once it was booted up, turned on her music. That was much better. Setting it aside on the nightstand, she closed her eyes and listened for just a few minutes. Now her thoughts didn't seem to race around wildly in her head. When she opened her eyes, they landed on her sketchbook on the desk on the other side of the room. Slipping off the bed, she grabbed the book and sat back down. Flipping through the pages, she paused a moment or two on the ones that she sketched Steve on. Her heart sputtered at each one, and though she wasn't too sure exactly what these feelings meant…she thought that, just maybe…she did love him. She needed longer than just a little over an hour to figure it out though, she needed to sleep on it.

* * *

The following morning Olyvia wasn't any closer to solving her little dilemma. She was still so lost and confused. So when she ran into Steve that morning during breakfast, she dropped her head and hurried over to take a seat next to her sisters. Dianne, seeing Olyvia take a seat between her and Rosemary, looked over to Steve, to find he looked like his puppy just died he was so depressed. Glaring at her sister, she elbowed her in the arm.

"Hey, what was that for?" Olyvia asked, as the forkful of egg she had went flying across her plate and onto Rosemary's who gagged in disgust.

"Do you have to treat Steve like he's the plague?" Dianne asked.

Olyvia looked over to Steve, who was taking a seat at the far end of the table next to Bruce, before dropping her gaze back to her plate.

"It just…feels awkward," Olyvia said, "I feel like I can't…talk or be around him until I figure out what is going on in my head, how I feel."

"You're still thinking about it?" Dianne asked incredulously.

"Thinking about what?" Rosemary asked, using a huge wad of napkins to pick up the bit of egg on her plate so she wouldn't have to touch it with her bare hands.

"Whether she just likes Steve, or loves him," Dianne replied.

"Why is she debating over that?" Rosemary asked, disappearing momentarily as she teleported over to the trash can to dispose of the napkins, before appearing in her seat once more.

"Dianne don't—," Olyvia began.

"He told her he loved her."

"He _what_!?" Rosemary screeched.

Everyone at the table cringed, and Olyvia was glad she chose to wear a hoodie that morning as she pulled it up to hide herself. She was pretty sure Steve was looking at her now, she could feel his intense gaze on her.

"Wait a second," Rosemary said as she realized something, "You didn't say anything back?"

"It's complicated, now shut up Midget."

Rosemary tried talking again, but Olyvia was silencing her. Rosemary frowned, her nose crinkling up as it did every time she did so, and poked Olyvia in the side. Olyvia let out a squeak as she jumped slightly, before retaliating with a poke of her own. Rosemary jumped in her seat, and appeared to squeak as well, but again she was being silenced by Olyvia.

"Okay you two, stop it!" Dianne roared, slamming her hand down on the table.

Loki jumped from Dianne's sudden outburst, not expecting that from her. She was just so quiet and reserved, it was very surprising. The two sisters, however, seemed accustomed to it, and snapped to attention, facing back forward and focusing on their food once more. Dianne kept a sharp eye on her sisters during the remainder of the meal, ready to put them back in line if they got too out of hand again. She could already tell that today was going to be an interesting day.

* * *

During training, Olyvia still continued to avoid Steve, and he didn't bother trying to talk to her at all, getting the message that she wanted to be left alone. As the training went on, Dianne could tell Olyvia was becoming angrier with herself, for what she wasn't exactly sure. The power behind her attacks steadily grew, to where Stark had to take a break from training with her, and when she was working with the punching bags, she was taking them out in a single punch.

"Um…Livy," Rosemary said as she cautiously approached her sister as she set up another punching bag.

"Midget, not a good idea," Dianne warned.

"What?" Olyvia snapped, whipping her head around to look at her younger sister.

"Are you okay?"

"No I'm not okay!" Olyvia shouted.

Rosemary took a few steps back, giving her sister a wide berth. Seeing that everyone was staring at her, somewhat in worry, Olyvia took a deep breath and turned back to the bag, resting her head against it as she tried to calm herself down.

"Sorry," she said quietly, "I didn't mean to yell. I think I'm done with training for today."

Removing the wrappings on her hands, she placed them back in the locker with the boxing accessories before heading to the door. No one dared try to stop her, and just resumed their training once she had left.

Instead of going straight back to her room like she was originally planning on, Olyvia decided to walk around for a while. She spent hours walking around the helicarrier before stopping at the one section of the ship completely made of glass. She heard Dianne refer to it as the observatory, and she had to agree, it did remind her of one. Sitting out at the far end, she stared off into the sky, and the quiet and calm helped her relax. She knew becoming frustrated with herself wasn't going to help her problem. She just needed to clear her mind, and then just ask herself a simple question. She really was blowing everything out of proportion, the question really was easy to answer. Before she was trying too hard to listen to her brain, when it was her heart she needed to listen to.

She had sat out in the observatory-like area for a few hours, skipping dinner by accident, getting up once the sun began to set. She was in need of a shower, and decided to take a quick one before grabbing a bite to eat and then heading to bed. There was hardly anyone in the food court when she finally got there, so she was able to eat her meal in peace instead of having a repeat of that morning. Returning to her room though, she tossed and turned for nearly an hour, unable to fall asleep. Rolling over onto her back with a sigh, she knew what she needed to do so she could get some sleep. She needed to talk to Steve. So changing out of her pajamas, she pulled on her grey sweat pants and a dark blue tank top, slipping on a pair of flip-flops as she left the room. Heading a few doors down and across from her own room, Olyvia knocked on Steve's door. After waiting for about thirty seconds, and no reply, she knocked once more, before she was sure that he wasn't there. Well, she knew where he would be, and headed down the hall, making her way to the gym. Sure enough, Steve was there, and Olyvia waited outside the window, just watching for a few minutes while he pommeled the punching bag. He was obviously upset, and Olyvia's stomach grew heavy with guilt. She knew it was her fault, for avoiding him today, of course he would be upset about that. She wasn't sure if he would even want to see her now though. She was tempted to just turn around and leave, but taking in a deep breath, she steeled herself and headed through the doors. She had to do this.

Steve didn't hear the doors open, too focused on what he was currently doing, and Olyvia walked across the room until she was about twenty feet away from him.

"Hi Steve."

Steve stopped abruptly, placing one hand against the bag to stop it from swinging as he turned to face her. He didn't say anything for a few moments, and Olyvia waited with bated breath for him to say something. She was expecting him to say something along the lines of wishing to be left alone.

"Hi," Steve replied quietly, "So we're talking now?"

Olyvia sighed. She figured he was a little bitter about it.

"I'm sorry about avoiding you today, I just…"

"It's okay," Steve interrupted, "I understand, you don't have to say anything."

"No, you don't understand," Olyvia rebutted, "Because you're not me, and no one has a mind as whacked out as mine, so no, you do _not_ understand. My problem is I think too much, I believe every problem is solved through thinking and that just…really screwed me up today…and yesterday, and I'm sorry. I know I hurt your feelings by…not saying anything."

Steve remained silent, and Olyvia wasn't surprised. He was probably a little hesitant to say anything, worried that if he did he would only have his heart crushed. Taking in a deep breath, Olyvia walked forward, her stomach beginning to tie itself into knots, until she was right in front of Steve.

"I…I hope I'm not too late in saying this," Olyvia began, "I just need to clarify one thing."

Raising her gaze, her eyes locked with his, and her heart sputtered, throat going dry, and her stomach began to twist even tighter. She swallowed to wet her throat so she could finally get the words out that she knew were true from the very depths of her heart.

"I love you too."

All the air left Steve's chest as he stared in disbelief down at Olyvia. He thought she didn't feel that way.

Closing the distance between them, Olyvia lightly placed her hands on Steve's forearms as she tilted her head up to his, and kissed him. In that moment, Steve never felt so weak, the feel of her lips against his having such a profound effect on him. And after feeling sorry for himself so long about losing Peggy, and the world he was familiar with, he felt something foreign to him. He felt happy.

* * *

After the day's training and dinner, Rosemary quickly hurried back to her room, and very cautiously pulled a small wooden box out from the vent above her desk, and from the box, removed her cell phone. After the Fury incident, she was feeling rather rebellious, and desperate to talk to Juan, so with Stark's help, she was able to sneak into the security hold where they were keeping all of their phones, and took back hers. For the past few days she had been texting Juan as much as she could sneak in, catching up on the six weeks they had been away from each other. She began to feel much better being able to talk to him. She knew better than to give details of the work, but she definitely complained about it, especially Fury. Needless to say, Juan didn't like the guy and was worried he would end up hurting Rosemary too.

Turning on her phone, she found she had received a few texts from her beau, and making herself comfortable on her bed, replied. After a few minutes of waiting, she received a reply from him, saying he had just got out from football practice. Their conversation went on from there for hours, until Rosemary was too tired and needed to get some sleep. She smiled like a fool as she stared at his last text for a few minutes. _Love You. Kisses! XOXOXOXO_. She missed him a lot, and couldn't wait to go back home to see him.

* * *

Thanos stood in the destruction left in his wake as he placed the fourth gem in the gauntlet. Even knowing the whereabouts of the gem, it still took quite a bit to actually get to it, having been very well hidden. Thanos grinned as he gazed upon the gauntlet. Only two more gems, and it would be complete. Of course, he would first get the Tesseract, because with it combined with the powers of the gauntlet, no one would be able to stand in his way, and it would be entertaining to see those puny humans believe they had a chance when he would just leave with the Tesseract and not bother with them then. What would be the fun in that? And while they scrambled about like ants trying to ready themselves for battle, he would find the remaining gems. He didn't feel rushed, because everything would come to him in time, and no matter how long those humans had to prepare, they couldn't even begin to fathom what they would be going against.


	18. Chapter 18

**Ohmygosh! I'm super excited to get the Avengers later today! And then I'm going to watch it over, and over, and over, and over, and stare at Captain America and drool all over my floor…yes, I'm just a little obsessed. Anyway! Here's the next chapter. And we're almost to the end!**

**sam-makes-pancakes: Yeah, it took them long enough.**

**Dr. Huff-Puff: Fury couldn't make any sense of the situation, and he believed he needed to follow through with the threat or else Loki might believe he could get away with certain things. I never intended to make Fury so hated, it just…happened. He might be able to redeem himself later on. Maybe.**

**KaityMaxz: No offense taken. He sort of needs to be hated in this story.**

**RipplesofAqua: Hey! You're back! No, I'm just kidding, I understand being busy with life. It gets in the way a lot. And so many exploded minds! I'm on a roll!**

**harrylee94: *snickers* I am so evil. Exploding minds is so fun! XD**

**Meanxruki: I find I tend to hurt my own OC's more than the other characters…note to self, hurt more of the Avengers, people apparently like it.**

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

Olyvia was in a much better mood the following day, and everyone was aware of it. Unlike yesterday, when they were keeping their distance to avoid her wrath, they were avoiding her today because she was just so…bouncy and bubbly. Stark was especially disturbed by it. Once training began he could tell Steve had to have done something because now the two were talking, and within ten feet of each other almost the entire time they were training. As usual, Natasha and Clint weren't present, knowing they were unwanted. They were training in a separate area, preparing themselves for the battle to come. As Fury watched the separate teams train, he knew this had to stop. They needed to work together if they had any hope of stopping Thanos. So heading down to the gym where the majority of the group was, he entered into the room.

"I need to speak with all of you," Fury said, "but in the conference room. Be there in five."

Turning heel, he left without another word.

"Be there in five," Rosemary mimicked, "Why should we listen to _you_? Team killer."

"Don't say that, you're just going to jinx us and one of us is going to die," Dianne said.

"Both of you stop talking," Olyvia interjected, "Let's just go and get it over with. It's not like we actually have to pay attention to what he's saying right?"

"I do that most of the time," Stark said.

"See, and he still gets by," Olyvia said.

Rosemary sighed, "Fine."

Dropping what they were currently doing, the group headed up to the conference room. The three sisters and Loki shot a glare at the assassins when they saw them in there as well.

"I've noticed a division among the team," Fury began, "And I don't care what differences you may have, you need to put those aside and work together."

Rosemary raised her hand, and Fury sighed in frustration before giving her permission to speak.

"You realize it's _you_ we don't along with, right?" Rosemary asked, "and we don't like _them_ because they are your loyal dogs."

Natasha and Clint shot a death glare at Rosemary for the insult.

"So if you think we're going to get along, you have another thing coming," Olyvia added, "We don't want to be here, so we aren't going to help you for your own personal gain. And to teach you a lesson, I think you should go up against Thanos yourself, teach you to treat your people better and _not_ threaten them to keep others in line."

"None of you realize how desperate this situation is," Fury retorted, "I couldn't afford the risk of putting any trust in Loki."

"Which worked splendidly," Dianne said sarcastically, "You broke up the team. Good job."

"So…I see no reason to stay here for this meeting," Olyvia said, "Since we're not a team any longer. I think it's every man for himself now."

Olyvia was the first to start heading to the door, and Fury starting spewing out orders for her to stay where she was, that this conversation wasn't over with. She was about to silence him as she came closer to the door, when the entire helicarrier shook from a powerful blast. Clint and Natasha reacted quick, rushing past Olyvia and out the door, followed by Fury, on their way to the bridge to find out what was happening.

"Okay, what was that?" Rosemary asked, bracing herself between two beams on the wall from how violent the helicarrier had rocked from whatever happened.

Loki paled, having a gut feeling he knew exactly _who_ it was.

"Thanos," Loki said, "He's probably followed the Tesseract's energy straight to us."

"You mean he can sense the energy?" Bruce asked.

"How do you think he found it in the first place, sending me to Midgard?" Loki asked, "Bringing the Tesseract here was a bad idea."

"Why didn't you mention that to Fury?" Steve asked.

"Like he would have listened to me."

The others sighed heavily, knowing that was the truth. Even if Loki had warned him, he wouldn't have listened.

"Let's get to the bridge, find out what's going on," Steve ordered.

"Wait, we're going to help Fury to keep him from getting his ass kicked?" Olyvia asked incredulously.

"Language!" Rosemary exclaimed.

"Oh please, stop with the language thing, I can cuss all I want in this sort of situation," Olyvia rebutted.

"I'd say it's more like every man for himself," Stark said as he left the conference room, "I'm not about to just sit around while Thanos tears this thing apart."

Stark made a point, and Olyvia followed the others out as they all went to quickly suit up. The girls were in their suits already since they were training, so they, and Loki, went straight to the bridge to see what was going on. They stopped at the doorway, and the girls peeked through, only to have their stomachs drop to their feet. Thanos was killing agents left and right, destroying the helicarrier as he walked through, four gems glinting off the gauntlet. Loki kept his distance from the door, knowing once Thanos spotted him, he would be his first target.

"Four? I thought we expected him to just have one!" Olyvia squeaked.

"Looks like Fury did a poor ass job at stopping Thanos from getting them," Dianne said.

"La—."

"Midget! I said stop!" Olyvia exclaimed.

She instantly regretted speaking so loud as Thanos whipped his head over to them, and Olyvia's stomach began churning as his eyes narrowed in a deathly glare, and she knew it was her he was looking at. Why was he looking at _her_ though? What had she done?

"Run!" Olyvia shouted to her sisters as she pulled them along with her as she began her retreat.

Doing as their sister advised, they took off headlong down the hall, Loki quick to follow, being sure to stay close to Dianne. Suddenly, Thanos appeared in front of them, and Rosemary quickly teleported behind him, continuing to run. Thanos briefly glanced over to Loki, whose heart had rammed up into his throat, before turning his gaze back to Olyvia. She dropped down to her knees and slid between Thanos's legs as he went to reach out and grab her, and once on the other side of him, she rolled over to get back onto her feet and kept running. Thanos turned after her, and using his distraction, Dianne and Loki managed to get by.

"Why is he after Livy?" Dianne asked as Thanos used the gauntlet to fire a few energy blasts directly at Olyvia, one hitting her in her leg as she whipped around the next corner.

"I honestly have no idea," Loki said, and felt bad for feeling relieved that Thanos was preoccupied with someone else at the moment rather than him.

Using his magic, Loki put up an illusion to make it look like he had turned around to face Thanos while he concealed himself and continued to run at Dianne's side. The illusion didn't last long, but it gave them enough time to get around the corner without him shooting at them, to see Olyvia hopping her way down the hall. They caught up to her, and Loki created a group of doppelgangers and sent them back down the hallway they just left to keep Thanos preoccupied for a little longer.

"What are we going to do? We can't keep running," Olyvia said, "And you don't have anything to blow up in his face."

Dianne knew she should have just started carrying around her bag of bouncy balls.

"Firstly, how are you holding up?" Dianne asked.

Olyvia looked down at her leg where she was bleeding. Whatever that energy blast was, it was sharp somehow, and it hurt.

"I can limp on it," Olyvia said, "But…honestly, the three of us aren't a match against him with a bedazzled gauntlet."

"Wait a minute…where's Rosemary?" Dianne asked.

"She got away because she was teleporting like mad."

Dianne let out a blood curdling scream as Rosemary suddenly appeared in front of them, who had to quickly dodge Olyvia's fists as she swung out reflexively.

"Midget, don't scare me like that!" Dianne exclaimed.

"I brought you your bouncy balls," Rosemary said, holding out the pack to her.

"Oh, thanks," Dianne said, attaching the pack to her hip before pulling out the largest bouncy ball she could find, and then chucked it at the wall, and it bounced back down the hallway Thanos was still in.

They began running again, and a few seconds later, heard the blast go off, followed by an infuriated roar from Thanos.

"I don't think he likes being blown up," Olyvia muttered.

They hadn't taken five more steps when suddenly the floor beneath them was ripped away, and the girls screamed as the fell down a floor, Loki the only one who went down in silence. Looking around, they expected to see Thanos, but let out a sigh of relief when they saw it was the Hulk, who was climbing his way up to the next level. Thor, Stark and Steve were down there as well, all dressed in their suit or armor. Steve rushed to Olyvia's side and helped her to her feet.

"What happened?" Steve asked worriedly, seeing the gash on her leg, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch," Olyvia replied, "As for what happened, Thanos has four freaking gems. _Four_!"

"And he hit Livy, with some blast of energy," Dianne added.

"That too."

"Thanos seems to have it out for Olyvia for some reason though," Loki explained to the others, "He nearly ignored me completely to go after her."

Though his cowl was covering most of his face, Olyvia could still tell Steve looked confused and worried. She knew what he was thinking, because she was asking the same question herself, though hers may have been more colorful. Why the hell was Thanos after her? What did she do to piss the guy off? The only thing she could remember was she threw a rock at him which missed him. Except…oh God.

"He thinks I'm the one who blew him up," Olyvia squeaked, "Back at the house. That rock Dianne imbued with the explosive charge, he didn't know she could do that, he only saw _me_ throw it. He looked rather scarred when I almost ran into him. And just a few minutes ago, he was _pissed_ after that other bomb. That must be why."

"Then you are staying out of the way," Steve ordered.

"There may not be much for me to do, but I can still help," Olyvia said, "I can serve as a distraction."

"I'm not going to risk your safety," Steve argued.

Rosemary jumped as she saw someone drop down from the hole, and Dianne and Loki turned, ready to attack, to see it was Natasha.

"Bruce is down," she said.

Olyvia paled. Thanos took down Bruce? In Hulk mode? That was _not_ a good sign.

"Okay, you definitely need my help, if he took out Bruce alone," Olyvia said, "It's going to take all of us to just survive."

"No, you're going to stay out of this," Steve rebutted, "We'll deal with Thanos."

"He's only going to wreak havoc if you two keep arguing like this," Natasha interjected.

"Point taken, let's get moving," Olyvia said, heading to the stairs.

Steve continued trying to convince Olyvia to sit this out, while Dianne floated up through the hole to keep an eye out, and Stark headed up to the upper level as well. Rosemary stuck close to Steve and her sister, while Natasha and Thor followed behind. Loki stayed near Dianne, so he could aid her if it came to that. Once the others had made it to the upper level, Loki used his magic to appear up there, instead of going around the long way, and Dianne floated on up, and the two joined the remainder of the group. Natasha suddenly stopped as her hand flew to the com in her ear.

"Thanos has the Tesseract," she informed the others.

"Lovely," Olyvia grimaced.

Natasha listened to the feed on her com for a few more seconds before adding, "Stark has led him into the hangar, he needs our help."

Steve altered his course to head down to the hangar, the whole group running so they would arrive at the hangar in time so there was still a Stark to help. Entering the hangar a few minutes later, they found Stark was flying around the area, trying to keep out of range of the attacks Thanos was throwing at him. He had already demolished the area, bodies of the crew strewn about the room so when he saw movement on the ground he looked over to them. Again, his eyes went directly to Olyvia, though she was mostly hidden behind Steve, who had positioned himself in front of her on purpose.

Steve and Thor began to charge Thanos, when he suddenly disappeared, so they stopped to see where he would show up. He reappeared in front of them, and brought his gauntlet down onto the ground, sending a shockwave across the floor, sending the whole group flying. Olyvia didn't even land though as she was sent into the air, Thanos having teleported to her, and wrapped his gauntlet clad hand around her neck, squeezing tight.

"You have injured me for the last time mortal woman!" Thanos growled as he began to close his hand around her neck even tighter.

Olyvia gasped weakly for air as he began crushing her throat, but he was stopped momentarily of his increasing pressure when he was hit in the back of the head by a shield. With a frustrated growl, Thanos turned slightly and lifted his other hand to face Steve, a blue orb conjuring at the palm, before it was blasted at Steve, who was hit right in the chest and knocked over. Using the last bits of strength she possessed, Olyvia swung a punch at Thanos's face, and she heard a satisfying crack as her fist contacted his giant jaw. Thanos popped his jaw back into place, glaring at her.

"What, is that all you're capable of now? No more tricks?"

"Hey stupid! You have the wrong person!" Dianne shouted as she rolled two mandarin sized bouncy balls toward Thanos.

"Dianne no!" Loki shouted.

Thanos turned to look over at Loki and the girl, and from the expression on Loki's face, Thanos knew that meant only one thing.

"Oh this is just…precious," Thanos cackled, "You have fallen for a mortal."

He didn't have the chance to do anything else when the balls exploded at his feet, blasting a hole in the floor, and he began to fall through when he disappeared. He reappeared next to Loki and Dianne, and Loki automatically moved himself between Dianne and the Titan. Thanos threw Olyvia against the wall, her head cracking loudly against it before she crumpled into a heap on the floor. Loki went to attack Thanos, but he grabbed Loki by the throat before tossing him to the side as well. Dianne tried to fly away before Thanos could get close, but he snatched her by her ankle, slamming her back down to the floor before pulling her closer and grabbing her by the back of her neck. Loki rushed back over to Thanos, but instead of attacking, dropped down to his knees.

"You're not here for anyone else other than me," Loki said, "So kill me and go, that's what you aimed to do, was it not?"

"Loki no," Dianne said weakly, clawing at Thanos's hand around her neck.

Thanos laughed, "You are naïve Trickster. I aim to make you suffer."

Thanos squeezed his hand tighter around Dianne's neck, and she cried out in pain as a few loud pops emitted from her neck. Loki got back to his feet, only to be hit across the face with the gauntlet and knocked onto his back. With Loki as a distraction though, Rosemary teleported right in front of Thanos, and seeing the Tesseract set in his cape, grabbed it and teleported away. Thanos roared in anger, and attempted to chase Rosemary down, but her teleporting was sporadic and unpredictable, he couldn't pin her down. More agents began arriving in the hangar, and the team were on their feet again, closing in on him. Thanos still had a hold on Dianne so he decided he would use her in order to gain the Tesseract back. Using the gauntlet, he created a portal, and Loki began to panic, seeing he was about to leave _with_ Dianne.

"If you want your mortal back Trickster, you will deliver the Tesseract as well as yourself to me," he said, "You'll know where to find me."

Loki threw himself at Thanos, trying to reach out for Dianne, but he stepped through the portal and it closed. Balling his hands into fists, he slammed them down against the floor. He wasn't fast enough. Dianne was gone.

* * *

Olyvia heard voices around her, and she blinked her eyes open before squeezing them shut as pain shot through her skull. It felt like her head had been pounded against a cinderblock. Feeling warm hands on her face, someone telling her to wake up, she opened her eyes once more, to find Steve staring down at her in concern.

"Livy? How are you feeling?" Steve asked.

"Like I bashed my head against a metal wall," Olyvia replied, "Where's Thanos."

"He…he left," Steve replied.

Olyvia went to sit up, but Steve placed a hand on her shoulder, holding her down.

"You shouldn't move, Bruce said you have a really bad concussion."

"Bruce is okay?" Olyvia asked.

Steve nodded, and taking a few moments to look at her surroundings, realized she wasn't in the hangar anymore, but in the medical ward. She was starting to become really tired of this place.

"How about the others?" she asked.

Steve clenched his jaw, and she could tell there was something he didn't want to tell her, and Olyvia's mind began conjuring up wild conclusions as to what might have happened.

"Did…did someone die Steve?" she asked.

"No. Well…no one you knew," Steve replied, "Some of the other agents did."

"Then what is it?"

Steve hesitated a few moments before he told her the bad news, "Thanos took Dianne."

Olyvia's eyes widened in horror, "Took her? Why? He has the Tesseract, why would he take Dianne?"

"Rosemary snatched the Tesseract from him, we still have it," Steve explained, "So he took Dianne to try to trade her for it and Loki."

Tears welled up in Olyvia's eyes and she tried not to cry over the concern for her sister's safety. Steve soothingly smoothed down her hair, and kissed her on the forehead, trying to comfort her.

"Do…do we know where Dianne was taken?" she asked.

Steve shook his head, "We don't. Loki…he hasn't said a word in the last few hours. From what Thanos said, it sounded like Loki knew where he'd be going, but he won't say anything."

"Where is Loki?"

"I think in his room now."

"Can I…can I go talk to him?"

"Bruce didn't want you moving," Steve replied, "Not for a while."

"Alright…I'll wait."

* * *

After being briefly checked over by the medical technicians, Loki returned to his room. He sat on his bed, feeling miserable about himself. He should have tried harder to stop Thanos, he should have kept Dianne safe. Now Thanos had her, and there was no knowing what Thanos was doing to her, what sort of methods of torture he was inflicting upon her. A few tears slipped down his face at the thought of possibly losing Dianne forever. He couldn't allow that to happen, she was…his everything now. He couldn't imagine living without her, and would give his own life to keep her safe. He needed to think of some sort of plan to get her back, but all the possible ideas he came up with ended the same way, him dying because he would have to offer his life to Thanos in order to keep Dianne safe. He would do it though, in a heartbeat, he just needed to convince Fury to allow him to do it.

Starting to feel lonely, Loki left his room and headed to Dianne's room, letting himself in since she wasn't there to do so. Shutting the door, he heard the incessant yowling of the cat as she came out from her hiding place under the bed to say hello. Loki strode past her and sat down on the bed. He felt only slightly better, surrounded by reminders of Dianne. Nelly then hopped up onto the bed, and crawled into his lap, curling up in a ball, making herself comfortable. Loki absentmindedly petted her as he stared at the wall. Now he could understand why Dianne liked cats. It was nice to have the company when one felt so alone.

He didn't know how long he was sitting there when he heard the door open, the sound startling Nelly who shot off his lap, claws piercing through his clothes and into his skin, making him flinch. He was back to not liking cats. Looking over to the door, he saw it was Olyvia who had opened it.

"There you are," she said, reaching over and flipping on the light, "Why are you sitting in the dark?"

"I didn't bother turning it on," Loki said, "So why were you looking for me?"

Olyvia shut the door when she noticed Nelly sneaking over to try to get out, and crossed the room to sit down on the bed next to Loki.

"I wanted to see how you were doing," Olyvia replied, pulling her legs up so she was sitting cross-legged, "And ask you a few questions."

"I'm fine," Loki said, though he was far from it. He felt like he was falling apart.

"Okay, you may be the god of lies, but even I could tell that was one," Olyvia said, "You're not going to convince anyone of that."

Loki let out a mournful sounding sigh, and he could feel the tears brimming in his eyes again as he slumped over. Olyvia leaned over to look at him, and when she saw his eyes watering up, she started tearing up herself.

"No, don't you dare cry," Olyvia said to Loki, "You're going to make me cry, and I already have a splitting headache from my concussion. Don't make me cry."

"I'm not going to cry," Loki spat.

"Again, lies," Olyvia said.

Loki just shook his head, dropping it into his hand. That way Olyvia couldn't tell what he was feeling, though it was easy to figure out from his physical demeanor.

"Loki," Olyvia began after a few minutes of silence, "Where did Thanos take Dianne?"

"The Chitauri's home planet," Loki replied, "Or whatever is left of it after Stark dealt with it."

"And you're sure of that?"

Loki nodded, "Or at least somewhere nearby. That was where Thanos found me."

"Do you…know how to get there?"

"I do but…I would need the power of the Tesseract to open a portal to get there," Loki replied, "Which I know your director won't allow."

"He's not my director," Olyvia said darkly.

"Sorry, Director Fury would never allow me to get close to the Tesseract."

"I don't give a rat's ass of what he allows, we're going to save Dianne."

"You realize Thanos will never let her go without having the Tesseract, as well as my life," Loki pointed out.

Olyvia bit her lower lip in thought, "Would there be any way…you could…I don't know…trick him to think he has the Tesseract? I know that will be the hard part."

"Possibly," Loki said, "But it wouldn't last long. It may give Dianne enough time to return, but no more than that."

Resting her chin on her hands, Olyvia furrowed her brow as she thought, "Well, there is no way we'd leave you behind. One, Dianne wouldn't leave if she knew if you wouldn't be coming back, and two, if by some miracle she did, she would kill us if you died."

"I see no other way it could end," Loki said, "It's either she dies…or me."

"I can't let that happen, or else I'm dead anyway, I just said that," Olyvia said.

"It's the only way," Loki rebutted.

"There has to be another way," Olyvia said, "We'll find another way."

* * *

Being called to the conference room once again later that evening, everyone made their way there, all in a solemn mood. They lost one of their own again.

"I hope you called us here with a plan to get my sister back," Rosemary said to Fury.

"The only way we'll be able to do that is if you put aside your dislike towards me and we all work together," Fury rebutted, "Think you can do that."

"For Dianne, I can do that," Rosemary said.

Fury looked over to Olyvia, "_Only_ for Dianne. And later kick Thanos's ass for turning our lives upside down and kidnapping my sister."

"Langu—."

"Midget, seriously shut up."

"So how are we going to get her back?" Stark asked, "Because I know we won't just hand the Tesseract over."

"If we are able to open a portal, we'll take the fight directly to him," Fury said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Olyvia said, waving her hands motioning for Fury to stop right there, "Fight him? Okay, now I may have said I wanted to kick his ass, but later. Midget, don't say a word. One, we don't know what allies he will have wherever he is, whether we'll be outnumbered or not, and two, the gauntlet was freaking bedazzled! Times four! He has four gems on the infinity gauntlet Fury! Have you gone blind in your one good eye? He just about made human jelly of us here on his own. And I thought you said you would try keeping him from getting the gems. I see how _that_ went."

"Do you suggest something different Agent Harris?" Fury asked skeptically.

"If we want to get Dianne back in one piece, we'll have to be sneaky," Olyvia said, "Make Thanos think we're handing him over what he wants, and then when he gives her back, take our person back."

"The person you are referring to will have to be me," Loki said pointedly.

"I know," Olyvia replied.

"And just how do you expect this plan to work?" Fury asked.

"Well, firstly, Loki how long would the portal be open?" Olyvia asked.

"I could create it to where it has to be triggered by something to be closed," Loki said.

"Okay, so…," Olyvia thought for a few moments, "I talked to Loki earlier, and he said it was possible to make a "fake" Tesseract, that would, hopefully, last just long enough for Dianne to be released. So perhaps after she is back…Loki could…run back through?"

Loki scoffed, "There would be no chance for me to get away, you should just give up with trying to figure out a way to get me out, because there is none."

"What, so you're just going to sacrifice yourself?" Olyvia asked incredulously.

"Yes," Loki replied bluntly.

Everyone looked over at Loki in surprise. They had no idea he would be so willing to lay down his life for Dianne. The depths of his feelings for her were much greater than they realized.

"If you wish to follow along Olyvia's plan," Loki said to the group, "I have only one suggestion to make to amend it. Once Dianne is back through the portal, close it. Do _not_ try to get me."

He shot a look at Olyvia, who sighed in frustration. She knew Dianne would never agree to his plan, but Loki had made up his mind, and there was nothing Olyvia could do. Except…form a little plan of her own to get him out of there. Looking over to Rosemary, everything began to click together of how to get Loki back in a quick manner.

* * *

When Thanos stepped through the portal, Dianne found herself suddenly on a small rock floating in space. She stared wide-eyed in awe, before she discovered she was having great difficulty breathing. Whatever little atmosphere this rock had, it wasn't even close to Earth's so there was very little air for her to breath. Thanos, being the alien he was, was accustomed to it. Dianne couldn't help but wonder if he felt slightly smothered when on earth.

Thanos kept a firm grip on Dianne's neck as he drug her over to some broken pillars, and chained her between them, her arms being stretched out so she couldn't reach for anything. Once he let go, she floated slightly off the ground, again because of the atmospheric difference of what she was used to and what she was currently in.

"If you think you're going to be given the Tesseract, you are sorely mistaken," Dianne spat at Thanos as he walked away.

He stopped, and laughed as he turned back toward her, "It is you who are mistaken, mortal. The Trickster made a mistake in letting it slip he held some fondness for you, and I know he will come for you, and bring what I desire. By this time on the morrow, I will have the Tesseract, and I will have exacted my revenge on the Asgardian Prince for failing me."

Dianne struggled against the chains, but she weighed practically nothing here, so her struggling was futile. Plus, she was exhausting herself, and was gasping for air after a few seconds of fighting against her binds. Thanos laughed again, and walked away.

"You won't be going anywhere mortal."

"What will you do if Loki doesn't come?" Dianne asked.

"Oh, but he will."

"But what if he doesn't?" Dianne hissed.

Thanos stopped again, and just turned his head to look at her, "Then I kill you. Teach the Trickster a lesson."

Thanos then left, disappearing down the slope where she couldn't see, and Dianne dropped her head, letting her tears slide down her face. She didn't want to die. Not here, not now.

"You mortals are so pathetic."

Dianne whipped her head back up, wondering where the voice had come from. She knew it wasn't Thanos, because it was a woman's voice. Looking around she spotted a tall, beautiful woman walk out from behind the pillar. Dianne glared at her, even though she knew it wouldn't have as much of an effect due to the tear stains on her face.

"So is it true, Loki's heart has been snatched by a lowly mortal?" the woman asked snidely, her red lips curled up in a malicious smirk.

Dianne didn't reply, instead turned her face away from the woman so she didn't have to look at her anymore. The woman merely laughed.

"How is Loki doing anyways?" she asked, casually looking at her nails as she brought her hand up to her face, "It's been decades since I've last seen him."

Dianne looked over at the woman in confusion. She knew Loki?

"Thought that would get your attention," she smirked, "Yes, I know Loki, being a master of magic as he is, though I am better than he. We used to…be quite friendly, if you know what I mean."

Dianne dropped her gaze as she paled slightly, starting to feel sick. She had figured she wasn't the first girl Loki had associated with, but having a woman saying she used to be with him…it made her want to puke.

"Of course, now we're rivals," she went on with a sigh, "Still, there are nights when I miss him terribly."

Dianne was really wishing she had acid spit at that moment so she could just spit on her and end her right then and there. Or laser vision and zap her into a pile of dust.

"So what makes you so special?" the woman asked, leaning in closer.

Though Thanos may have tied her arms to the pillars, she still had full movement of her legs and kicked up with them, flipping herself completely upside down, but she hit the woman under the jaw and sent her reeling backwards.

"Why you little—," she began.

"Maybe next time you should take note how bound a hostage is before you get close and piss them off," Dianne spat as she forced her legs back down by using her flying ability.

The woman crossed her arms, "You have spirit, perhaps that's what he saw."

"Who are you anyways?" Dianne asked.

The woman paused a moment, before laughing nervously, "What, Loki hasn't mentioned me?"

Dianne glared at her. Clearing her throat, the woman composed herself, "I guess you must be unsure of who I must be out of the many women Loki speaks of."

"Oh, you must be Volstagg then," Dianne said.

The woman's face turned red as she became angry, "Volstagg is a vile, filthy, _man_ you stupid human!"

"Oh, sorry, I mistook that lock of hair over your shoulder as a beard," Dianne rebutted, "My bad."

She began to shake in anger as she took a few steps closer, "My name is Amora. The Enchantress. You will do well to remember it."

"Yes, I'll get right on that," Dianne grumbled.

Dianne could tell she was grating on Amora's nerves, and she looked about ready to make a rebuttal when a voice called out to her.

"Amora!"

Amora and Dianne turned to where the voice came from, towards the hill, to see yet another alien there.

"Thanos wants you to leave the prisoner alone," The Other told the Enchantress.

With a curt nod, she walked away and past the alien, disappearing as well down the hill. The Other looked at Dianne for a few moments before turning around and heading back down as well. With a sigh, Dianne dropped her head, and squeezing her eyes shut, began to pray that she would be rescued from this hell.

* * *

As Loki explained to Fury how he would have to create the decoy Tesseract, and the portal, Olyvia pulled Rosemary aside.

"I have a mission for you," Olyvia said.

"What do you need me to do?"

"When Loki goes through the portal, I want you to sneak in without him noticing, and _hide_, that is very important," Olyvia began, "Don't let Dianne see you, and once she is through the portal, I need you to teleport right up to Loki, grab him, then teleport back to the portal, and shove him through, can you do that?"

Rosemary nodded, "I can."

"We won't shut the portal until you're back through," Olyvia assured her, "But once you are, it's closed, that way Thanos can't get through."

"Yeah, don't want to mess with him again so soon," Rosemary agreed.

"So you think you're up for this?"

Rosemary nodded, "It's either this, or face Dianne's wrath later."

"I figured you'd go for this."

* * *

Once Loki told Fury the details of how the portal and decoy would work, both needing energy taken from the Tesseract, the decoy more than the portal, Fury gave the okay for them to get to work as he had the helicarrier moved to another location. Loki first prepared the item that would serve as a decoy, before making the portal closure device. Once those were done, he handed the closure device to Steve, since he knew if he handed it over to Olyvia, she wouldn't use it until she dragged Loki back.

"The moment Dianne is back through that portal, touch this to the opening, and it will close," Loki explained, "Don't wait for a second more."

Steve glanced over to Olyvia, who was pouting over in a corner, glaring at Loki, before looking back to Loki, "Alright."

With the other item, Loki went over to the Tesseract, which Natasha held in a case, and Loki spent a good five minutes absorbing energy from the cube into the decoy.

"Wow, looks like the real thing," Clint commented.

"The point is for it to _feel_ like it's the real thing," Loki said, "Thanos can sense its energy. We don't have any more time to waste to talk about this though."

The others nodded, and again using the Tesseract's energy, Loki concentrated hard as he began to form a portal. It didn't appear as quickly as Thanos's had starting out as a black hole just the size of a quarter, before it grew to eight feet in diameter. Loki gave Steve one last look before placing the decoy in his dimensional pocket and stepped through the portal. After nearly ten seconds, Olyvia gave a nod to Rosemary, who then zipped in as well.

"What the—Rosemary!" Stark exclaimed.

"Just wait," Olyvia said, moving over to Steve, "May I please have that?"

"What are you planning?" Steve asked.

"I am not going to have my sister hate me for the rest of my life," Olyvia said, "I'm not following Loki's plan. I'm bringing him back, which is why I need Rosemary over there."

"Let's just hope she'll be okay," Stark said.

"She will be," Olyvia said, more of as an assurance to herself, "She will be."

* * *

Once through the portal, Loki found himself in a vaguely familiar area. There was no one around where he entered, but he could see a few forms at the other end of the rock he was on. Taking in a deep breath, he made his way across the ragged path to the top. Loki looked around, and his heart leapt into his throat when he saw Dianne chained to a pair of pillars. At least she looked okay, Thanos hadn't done anything to harm her. Yet. Aside from her, Thanos and the Chitauri who called himself The Other were the only others there.

"Loki! What are you doing here?" Dianne asked, sounding like she was close to tears.

Thanos smiled nefariously, "I knew you would come."

"I have what you want," Loki said, taking the decoy Tesseract from his dimensional pocket to show it to Thanos, before putting it back away, "Now let Dianne go."

Thanos held out a hand, "The Tesseract."

"Dianne first," Loki rebutted, "and only once she is through the portal."

Thanos glared at him, not taking kindly to being ordered by the Asgardian. After a few moments of just glaring, Thanos raised his gauntlet clad hand, and the chains turned to dust. Dianne began to float a little higher, so using he flight ability, forced herself down closer to the ground before flying over to Loki, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm not going to let you sacrifice yourself," she sobbed.

"Dianne, please just go," Loki begged, "I'm sorry, but this is how it has to be."

Dianne shook her head, "No it doesn't. Please don't do this."

"I love you Dianne," Loki whispered before pulling her in for a brief kiss, "Now please…go."

Dianne only began to cry harder, and Thanos sighed in annoyance.

"Dianne please," Loki begged again. Thanos would only kill them both if she didn't go.

"I can't," she whispered.

"You have to," Loki said, "Now go."

Debating a few moments, Dianne pulled herself away from Loki, another sob escaping her throat before she flew back towards the portal. Once he saw her go through, Loki pulled the Tesseract decoy from the dimensional pocket once more, and closed his eyes as Thanos began to walk toward him. This was it.


	19. Chapter 19

**Who has the Avengers movie? I have the Avengers movie. Who has watched it a dozen times already? Me. It is just so **_**AWESOME**_**! I love it! Okay, I need to calm down before I hyperventilate. And just so people know, yes this story is almost over, just one more chapter wrapping things up, BUT I am already working on the sequel. There should be three parts total if everything goes according to plan. So don't worry about this ending. There will be more! **

**Aya-Shoru: That was the point. *evil grin***

**Dr. Huff-Puff: She really has, hasn't she? And it's only going to get worse (in the sequel)! I'm so mean to her!**

**KaityMaxz: Because I'm evil like that. Mwuahahaha!**

**Xandrea: Hahahaha! This is so fun! Exploding minds galore!**

**harrylee94: You can ignore that strange feeling, I'm not **_**that**_** evil. And the sisters certainly have come a long way.**

**sam-makes-pancakes: Cliffhangers are fun…when you're the one writing them.**

**kakirovich: There will be more, there will, don't worry. Don't panic! Just…breathe deeply.**

**Meanxruki: So I've gotten better with the more Loki then?**

**msgone: Yes, go Rosemary! She turns out to be very useful this chapter.**

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

Loki stood completely still, waiting for the inevitable once Thanos reached him. He expected it to be a painful death, from how furious Thanos was for all the times he had avoided his grasp. Loki jumped as a jolt of adrenaline rushed through his body when something slammed against his back, and his eyes flashed open. He couldn't see who it was behind him of course, but he saw Thanos's face contort in fury.

"You will not escape me again!" Thanos roared.

Loki dropped the decoy Tesseract when an ear splitting scream pierced the air that caused him to flinch, and watched as Thanos went flying backwards towards the edge of the rocks. Well, now he knew who was behind him, but before anything else could register in his mind as to what was going on, he suddenly found himself at the portal, and then grabbed by his hair as Rosemary drug him through. Loki then found he was on the floor of the helicarrier, Rosemary sprawled out on her stomach beside him, and Olyvia quickly brought the closure device to the portal, and it disappeared in the blink of an eye. Loki got to his feet and glowered at Olyvia.

"I thought I said not to do that!"

Olyvia didn't have a chance to argue with him as Dianne ran over to Loki, but instead of throwing her arms around him in a hug, she began beating her fists against his chest.

"You selfish, irrational, _stupid_, maniac!" Dianne sobbed, "Why did you go? He was going to kill you! You _planned_ on dying! Why?"

"Because I love you," Loki whispered, grabbing her wrists to stop her from hitting him, "I couldn't live with myself if he had killed you."

Dianne burst into tears and threw her arms around him as she sobbed into his chest, and Loki wrapped his arms around her, cradling her tenderly. He shouldn't be alive right now, and he was both extremely relieved, as well as upset for no one listening to him. He should have expected as much though, Dianne's happiness was Olyvia's first priority here.

"I think it's time for us to go," Olyvia said to the others, taking both Steve and Rosemary by the hand as she headed out.

The others followed suit, leaving just Dianne and Loki alone in the room. Dianne continued to sob for a few more minutes before she calmed down.

"Did you expect me to have done anything different?" Loki asked quietly as he leaned back so he could see her face, "Dianne, I would willingly lay down my life for you."

"But I don't want to live without you," Dianne rebutted, "So how is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"I don't know," Loki said quietly.

Dianne wiped away at her tears, when Loki moved a hand to brush away a few himself. Trailing his fingers down to her chin, he gently tucked his fingers beneath and turned her face up towards his.

"Just know that I did what I did because I love you."

A sad smile tugged at Dianne's lips, "I love you too."

* * *

"I am so glad that is over with," Olyvia said with a sigh of relief.

"It's not completely over," Steve pointed out.

"I know that," Olyvia replied, "But at least we have Dianne back. That's what I meant."

"We're lucky it went so smoothly," Steve said, "even with you not following the original plan and going with your own."

"It worked out for the best," Olyvia said, "Everyone's happy."

Steve nodded in agreement, and slowed to a stop as they neared Olyvia's room.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning," Olyvia said as she stopped halfway through her door, "But I think I will be taking the training easy tomorrow."

"You better, because now you have a concussion to worry about," Steve replied.

"Anyway, goodnight."

"Goodnight," Steve replied, and quickly bent down to give her a kiss before she disappeared into her room.

Olyvia smiled goofily as she slipped into her room, reluctantly closing the door. Though today had been stressful, and rather painful, she really had never been happier in her life. She never expected to find someone while fighting to save the world, but here she was, and with Captain America, of all people. She was the luckiest girl in the world right now.

* * *

Once Dianne calmed down, Loki walked her back to her room. As they headed that way, Dianne decided to ask him about that woman she ran into wherever Thanos had taken her.

"Loki…do you know someone named…Amora?"

Loki froze, looking at Dianne in confusion, as well as worry, "How do you know that name?"

"So you do know her," Dianne said sadly.

"Yes, but you didn't answer my question."

"She was helping Thanos," Dianne replied, "She was there…on Thanos's…rock…I guess is what you'd call it. She left before you arrived, but she was there, and she…she said she knew you."

"Well, she is originally from Asgard," Loki said, "She was exiled though, because of the dark magic she—my god, I should have known."

"Known what?"

"She must have been the one who tried to get the Tesseract, disguising herself as me just in case," Loki said, "I should have known it would be her. She only just hates me immensely."

"She…didn't sound like she hated you," Dianne muttered.

"Believe me, she does," Loki replied.

"That's…not what it sounded like."

Loki looked at her curiously, "What did she say?"

"She said…you and her used to be…together."

Loki rolled his eyes, "Dianne, Amora is quite the liar herself. She only _wished_ to be with me. I never was interested. We were always rivals, and she took a course I would never consider, that being dark magic. I would never associate with the likes of her."

Dianne was silent for a few moments, biting her lower lip, before finally saying, "Really?"

"Yes, really," Loki replied, lightly kissing her on the lips, "Are we better?"

Dianne nodded, "Yeah, we're better."

"Now you get some sleep," Loki said, gently caressing her face, "You'll need it."

"No kidding, I've never felt so exhausted," Dianne said, "Freaking out over being kidnapped takes more out of you than I thought."

Continuing on, Loki escorted Dianne the rest of the way to her room, and the two exchanged goodbyes before going to their own rooms. When Loki again told Dianne he loved her, she nearly exploded from happiness. Though she was tired, she wasn't sure how she would be able to sleep from the intensity of her feelings at the moment. Lying in her bed, she finally fell asleep, her lips curled up in a smile.

* * *

Thanos roared in anger as he floated at the ocean surface. Those damn humans and their schemes. He had used to portal to return to where he believed the Tesseract to be, only to find himself falling to the ocean below. Boiling in rage, Thanos created a portal to return him to that pathetic excuse of a temporary home he had. Once back on the rock, Thanos kicked the decoy Tesseract, which had no energy remaining, off into the sky with another frustrated roar. This was going to be the last time they tricked him. He would obtain the last two gems, and then those pathetic mortals would rue the day they ever crossed him.

* * *

After a full night's rest, Loki insisted that Dianne see Dr. Banner to be checked over for any damage that might have been done. Dianne argued with him the whole way to Bruce's lab, saying Thanos didn't touch her once she was bound, there was no reason for her to be checked on. She was physically fine, perhaps a little rattled still, but otherwise fine. Since Loki wouldn't give it a rest, Dianne finally conceded and let Bruce do his job. Once Bruce gave the verdict of her being completely fine, Dianne gave Loki the 'I-told-you-so' look. Loki just rolled his eyes. He would only believe a professional to tell him how Dianne was health-wise.

Once that was done, it was time for training, the assassins once more helping train the girls. The whole team was being worked harder than ever to prepare them for the next time Thanos would show. What was surprising though, was the change in everyone's attitude towards Loki. They were still a little wary of him of course, but they treated him as part of the team now, as an equal. Dianne couldn't help but laugh a little seeing Loki's face when Thor and Stark began fighting over who got him on their team for the team spar in the woodland room. Stark ended up winning, and for once, Dianne wasn't on the same team, being picked by Thor.

"No going easy lover-boy," Stark said to Loki as he flipped his helmet down and took off to their side of the room.

Loki's face turned a slight shade of pink at the nickname, before he turned and became invisible so no one could see where exactly he was heading. The rest of Stark's team, which was Olyvia, Rosemary and Steve, returned to their "base", as they called it, before the fight was to start. Olyvia had to admit, she was a little worried about this training session because it was going to be the first time Bruce was training with them, and going to be in Hulk mode. Bruce wasn't so sure of doing this in the first place, but everyone said they were okay with it. They all knew he could control himself when he consciously went into Hulk mode, and he would only pin the squishy people before they would then have to go to the "dead room". Of course, the two people Hulk could go all out on were the Asgardians, and one was on his team so Loki wasn't thrilled about being the only one Bruce would wail on. He would just have to do his best to avoid Bruce.

Once the bell went off, starting the fight, Olyvia stealthily snuck out from her hiding spot, moving to circle around to the other side. Hearing footsteps behind her, Olyvia stopped with a heavy sigh.

"Midget, please don't follow me," Olyvia said once she looked back to make sure it was her sister, "You're loud, you'll only give away my position."

"Oh, you can silence both our footsteps."

"But I can't silence them _and_ your talking," Olyvia rebutted, "Now shoo."

"I don't want to be alone though."

Both nearly flattened themselves to the ground as a deafening roar shook the room.

"Because of that," Rosemary added.

"He won't hurt you."

"But he's so big and scary!" Rosemary whined.

Olyvia sighed in frustration, "Whatever, just keep your mouth shut and perhaps we'll be able to avoid him."

Rosemary nodded, pursing her lips shut. They hadn't made it much further though when she spoke again.

"I hope we'll be done with this Thanos mission by Thanksgiving. I'd like to be home for that."

Olyvia shot a glare at her sister, who then clamped her jaw shut again. Moving forward again, they ducked behind a tree with heavily foliaged low branches, as they heard someone moving on the other side. Peering through as best they could, they saw it was Clint. He had a practice arrow knocked, and was looking in their direction, and Olyvia gave a nod to Rosemary. She disappeared, reappearing behind Clint, and she placed her sheathed dagger against his neck.

"You're dead," she said.

"Nice job," Clint said, placing his arrow back in his quiver and breaking down his bow as he walked out of the room.

Rosemary popped back up beside Olyvia, and they continued their way around the room. They were moving through some dense foliage when Olyvia ran into something, though it was clear in front of her.

"What the?"

Loki suddenly appeared in front of her, "It's me."

"Can't you find a spot to hide that I won't run across?" Olyvia asked.

Loki rolled his eyes, "Yes, because I know exactly where you will be going…and I'm not hiding."

"Right…" Olyvia muttered.

The three jumped when they heard Hulk roar, and he was really close. Rosemary grabbed onto Olyvia's arm with a small squeak, and Olyvia tried shaking her off.

"Midget, let go!" Olyvia hissed.

Loki jumped again as the Hulk's head suddenly burst through the trees, roaring at them and Olyvia and Rosemary screamed as they jumped away. Olyvia's foot landed in a trap, and went shooting into the air, Rosemary going with her since she was still holding onto her. Cloaking himself, Loki quickly ran away while the Hulk was focused on the girls. Rosemary continued screaming as the Hulk reached up to grab them, and she began climbing up her sister, before teleporting higher to grab onto the rope.

"Midget! Help me up!" Olyvia shouted, bending upwards and reaching out a hand for her sister.

Rosemary reached down, and helped pull Olyvia to the rope, and just in time because Hulk's hand closed around where her head had just been. Climbing further up onto the rope, she was just out of reach from the Hulk, as long as he didn't jump.

"I'm glad we got rid of Clint already," Rosemary commented, "We'd be sitting ducks."

"I blame you."

"What? What did I do?" Rosemary asked indignantly.

"What you usually do, being loud," Olyvia rebutted, "He probably heard you."

"You were the one talking to Loki."

"Oh, yeah, blame me," Olyvia said sarcastically, "How about next time you not follow me? Now go away. Shoo."

"But I don't want to be down on the floor where the Hulk is," Rosemary muttered.

Olyvia sighed in frustration, "You can see the far corner of the room, go over there. It'll take him…about five seconds for him to get over there if he runs."

"You go over there."

"I can't teleport! You go! Now! This is my trap. Mine! Go find your own."

Rosemary sighed in frustration before teleporting away. Looking down, Olyvia saw the Hulk was still looking up at her, and contemplating on jumping, she could see him shifting his weight preparing to do so. Olyvia whimpered. This was going to hurt, she just knew it. Suddenly though, something caught Hulk's attention, and he went running off elsewhere in the room. Olyvia sighed in relief, but it was short lived as Dianne came flying through the air, and cut the rope. Olyvia screamed again as she fell, and tried to brace herself for the impact when she hit something that definitely wasn't the floor. Opening her eyes, she found that Steve had caught her.

"Thanks," Olyvia sighed.

"You're welcome," Steve replied, "Lucky for you I got here in time."

"What, you knew Dianne was going to do that?"

"No, but I figured you'd end up falling somehow. Your klutziness is astounding."

Their discussion was cut short however by Dianne flying down to the ground, and delivering a hard kick to Steve's jaw, sending him flying backwards. Olyvia threw a few punches at her, but when Dianne kicked off into the air, she jumped as far away as she could from where she was standing, a few seconds later a few pebbles, and leaves blowing up where she had been. As she and Steve got to their feet, Thor then showed up. Steve intercepted Thor, and Olyvia readied herself for another attack from Dianne when Loki then appeared, jumping out from one of the trees and grabbing Dianne, taking her down to the ground. Dianne kicked him off of her, Loki landing lightly on his feet, and since the two were now occupied with fighting each other, Olyvia went to help Steve, who was currently somewhere else fighting Thor and she needed to find them.

Using his scepter, Loki shot a beam of magic aura at Dianne, which she nimbly dodged before charging him. Engaging into hand-to-hand combat, Dianne discovered Loki for once wasn't holding back, and easily fended her off. With another blast from his scepter, she went flying back, taking out a few bushes on her way. When she stood, she saw a somewhat panicked expression on his face, most likely worried about hurting her, and Dianne just smirked.

"Now this is what I've been waiting for," Dianne said, throwing a few charged pebbles at him.

Loki held up the scepter and created a force field, which the explosives detonated upon impact. Before the blast even cleared away, Dianne was flying through the smoke, and she hit Loki hard, the two rolling a few times across the ground before they came to a stop, Dianne pinning Loki to the ground, and placed her dagger to his neck.

"I believe _I_ win," Dianne said smugly.

"Perhaps you should look again," Loki replied.

Glancing down, Dianne found the blade of Loki's scepter at her side.

"I would have slit your throat, you would have been dead before you do anything."

"Actually, you would have impaled yourself on my blade and killed yourself before having the chance to slit my throat," Loki rebutted.

Dianne pursed her lips as she thought over this debate before replying, "Let's call it a draw."

"You just don't want to admit that I'm right," Loki teased.

"Not true," Dianne rebutted, "I'm just trying to make the blow to your pride easier so you don't have to say you were beaten by a girl."

"You haven't beaten me," Loki retorted.

"So you'd rather I leave the arena alone then?" Dianne asked as she bent down and gave Loki a peck on the lips, "Well then fine, you win, I'll go. It'll be so lonely in the other room, all by myself, but I guess that's how it has to be."

Dianne started to get up, but Loki grabbed reached around to the back of her neck, and pulled her back down into a kiss.

"You know, I don't think that is an effective fighting tool," Dianne said once he broke away.

"It seems to be working," Loki replied.

Dianne just rolled her eyes as Loki kissed her again. They abruptly pulled apart when they heard someone clearing their throat.

"Guys, you're both dead already," Stark said, "So just get out of here. Suckerfish."

* * *

The following day, the team was called from their training to the conference room. Wondering what Fury wanted now, they made their way there. Upon entering the room, everyone noticed the Tesseract was sitting in a case on the table, Loki and Clint the only two who were eyeing it warily. They had more reason than anyone else to not like that thing.

"I think you guys are ready to face Thanos," Fury said.

"What?" the three sisters squeaked.

"Are you sure about that sir?" Clint asked.

"I've been watching your progress, and I think we should draw Thanos out and stop him before he causes any more damage," Fury replied.

"And just how do you plan on drawing him out?" Bruce asked.

Fury looked over at the Tesseract, and the others paled.

"You're not serious are you?" Thor asked, "You're only going to make it easy for him to get the Tesseract? This is madness!"

"He will only come for the Tesseract," Fury explained, "And we want to draw him out before he gets the remaining two gems."

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Olyvia said, "Less bedazzle sounds good to me."

"But if he gets the Tesseract, that won't be good for us," Loki said.

"Then we'll just have to be very careful that he won't take it from us," Stark said.

"Yes, because that'll be so easy," Steve said sarcastically.

"Just where did you plan on drawing him out?" Natasha asked.

"Somewhere remote," Fury said, "That way we don't chance any civilians getting hurt."

"We should also expect Skrull," Clint said, "Put that into consideration as well."

Fury nodded, "We can have a team of agents in quinjets to help with the Skrull, while the rest of you take care of Thanos."

"And just what are we going to do with the gauntlet?" Dianne asked, "That is, if we beat Thanos."

"We _will_ beat Thanos," Stark said, "Try to be positive."

Dianne rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

"It was in possession of Odin before," Fury said, "So I guess he'd be the one to determine what to do with it."

"I suggest tossing it into the ocean," Steve said, "Along with the Tesseract."

"As I said, Odin should be the one to determine the verdict," Fury said, "Or Thor, if Odin can't be here to do that."

Everyone looked over to Thor, and he shifted uncomfortably, "I would consult with my father first of course, and that will have to wait until after the battle."

"So are you all in agreement to the plan?" Fury asked.

Looking around at each other, the group slowly nodded, and Fury closed the case the Tesseract sat in and tucked it under his arm.

"Then get your rest tonight," Fury said, "Tomorrow, the Avengers will be moving out."

* * *

Olyvia couldn't sleep that night, the stress she was under keeping her away. She was terrified about tomorrow. The last time they went against Thanos, it almost turned out deadly for them, and Olyvia's head still hurt from being thrown against the wall.

After tossing and turning for over two hours, Olyvia knew she wouldn't fall asleep at this rate, and tossed her blankets off her as she sat up, running her hands down her face. She was tired, but she couldn't sleep. Perhaps getting a little workout would help. Changing into sweats and a t-shirt and pulling on her tennis shoes, she headed down to the gym. She was surprised to see that Steve was there too as she stepped through the doors.

"Steve? What are you doing down here? And at this hour?" Olyvia asked.

Steve stopped punching the bag, and turned around to face her, "Livy? What are you doing up?"

"I asked you first," Olyvia said as she crossed the room, and stood on the other side of the punching bag, wrapping her arms around it like a hug so she could lean against it without falling over, "So what's up?"

"Can't sleep."

"Me either," Olyvia said with a sigh, "I'm so worried. Any of us…can die tomorrow."

Steve reached out and gently caressed her face, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear, "No one is going to die."

"How can you be so sure of that?" Olyvia asked quietly.

Steve didn't say any reply, because he couldn't be sure of that, he was just trying to be positive. Gently taking Olyvia by her arm, he pulled her away from the punching bag and into his arms, holding her tight to his chest. It was only a few days ago he finally confessed to her how he felt, and already…he could possibly lose her. That terrified him. He knew he wouldn't be able to handle losing yet another person he loved. That would drive him into such a deep depression, there would be no way of ever climbing back out of it.

"You aren't…are you," she more of stated than asked.

"I'm just trying to stay positive," Steve said, "I don't want to think about what I can possibly lose."

"I'm trying to remain positive too, but…I do want to say something," Olyvia began, lifting her gaze so she was looking Steve in the eye, "Though these last few days have been crazy…they have been the best days of my life. I love you Steve, and I'm glad to have met you."

Steve smiled sadly, and cupped Olyvia's face with a hand as he bent down to kiss her, "I love you too, Olyvia, and I wouldn't trade anything in the world for the time I've been able to spend with you."

And since Olyvia didn't know about Peggy, she didn't know how much more that meant. Steve just never had the chance to really explain to Olyvia his past with Peggy, but if they survived this, that would definitely be something he would need to tell her. As for right now, Steve was just going to relish the moment, because as much as he didn't want to think of it, this could possibly be the last time he would be with Olyvia.

* * *

Waking early the next morning, the Avengers gathered together for a brief meeting with Fury, which turned out to be a pep talk for them, and afterwards suited up and made their way to the hangar. Rosemary was quivering she was so nervous about what was to come. Even though the group could squeeze into one quinjet, they split into two to take to their destination, the sisters and Loki were to ride with Clint, while the rest went with Natasha. Olyvia gave Steve a quick kiss goodbye, since she knew there wouldn't have that luxury in the middle of battle in case it started right as Fury got the Tesseract working for him. Boarding their quinjets, it was only a few minutes before they took off. Rosemary groaned, doubling over on herself.

"I feel sick."

"Because you're stressed or because you're airsick?" Olyvia asked.

"Stressed," Rosemary groaned again.

"I know how you feel," Olyvia said, patting her sister on the back, "We'll be okay though. I won't let anything happen to you."

"But what if something happens to you? You won't be there to help me!" Rosemary asked as she sat back up.

"Then teleport like crazy _away_ from Thanos," Olyvia replied, "Don't get close unless you need to."

Rosemary nodded, and took in a few deep breaths, "We'll be alright…we'll all be…alright."

After flying for an hour, they finally arrived at their destination, a large field near a forested area, giving them plenty of room for the battle that was to come. A third quinjet landed, which they knew Fury was on with the Tesseract and a team of agents. Dianne made a guess that he only brought the agents to use as meat shields to give himself time to run away. None of them would really be too surprised if that was the case.

Gathering outside, Fury began to set up a device that would cause the Tesseract to act like a beacon to Thanos. Everyone knew that Thanos would know they were trying to draw him out, but not knowing Thanos, they weren't sure if he'd come, expecting an ambush of sorts, which was sort of their plan, or not play into their hands and stay away. The only way to find out was to wait.

* * *

"The Tesseract has made itself known to us again," The Other said to Thanos, as they stood at the edge of their floating rock.

"Yes…blatantly so," Thanos mused.

"It seems the humans are attempting to draw you out," The Other said.

Thanos laughed, "How stupid can those mortals be? They stand no chance against me, not even with the Tesseract in their hands, which it won't be for long."

"What is your plan?"

Thanos looked down at his gauntlet, still only four gems in it. He could go now, but he may as well wait for Amora, see if she was actually able to acquire what he sent her out for this time. If she failed him once more, the Titan wouldn't hesitate in showing her a taste of the power he wielded. And almost as if fate were on his side today, before he could even reply to his peon, Amora appeared.

"Do you have what I sent you for?" Thanos asked.

Amora smirked, "Oh, much more."

Opening her hand, the remaining two gems sat in her palm, and Thanos grinned.

"You have done more than I expected," Thanos said, taking them from her and placed one gem in its slot.

Amora smiled wider, looking over at The Other mockingly. He hadn't done so well in the tasks given to him and he just turned away from her, obviously displeased.

"I will go and ready my army," Thanos said, placing the last gem on the back of the gauntlet, "The Tesseract shall be mine in a matter of hours."

Creating a portal, Thanos stepped through and disappeared.

* * *

The Avengers had been waiting for hours, and there was still no sigh of Thanos. Olyvia was miserable, because of the cold weather, and took shelter back in one of the quinjets. The others weren't too bothered by the weather, and stayed outside, ready to attack once Thanos arrived.

"How long are we going to stay out here before we figure Thanos isn't going to come, and leave?" Rosemary asked.

"We could be waiting here for days," Natasha replied, "Which is why we brought rations and supplies."

Rosemary sighed heavily, "Great. Is it bad that I'm hoping he will come now?"

"Not if you're confident that we'll survive this," Stark replied.

Rosemary was silent for a few moments, "Uh…I think I could live with waiting a few more hours."

"Am I the only one with a positive attitude on this?" Stark asked incredulously, looking around at the rest of the group.

No one replied, and Stark sighed heavily, "I'm surrounded by pessimists."

"We are picking up an atmospheric disturbance sir," an agent from Fury's quinjet informed the director from the open jet doors.

"Where?" Fury asked.

"Here," the agent replied.

Looking up, the team could see clouds darkening and swirling above them. Olyvia, hearing something was going on, hurried out of the quinjet and to Steve's side.

"That doesn't look good," Olyvia muttered.

Fury went to grab the Tesseract, to put it away, when a beam came shooting down from the clouds, sending a shockwave over the ground once it made impact. Dianne and Stark took to the air to avoid being knocked off their feet, while the others were thrown onto their backs. The beam disappeared, and Thanos stood before them. Everyone stared in horror for a few moments when they realized the gauntlet now held all six gems. They were screwed if they couldn't find a way to get it away from him. From above, the portal Thanos came through was still open, and Skrull began pouring through, each one morphed into some winged creature so they wouldn't merely fall to their deaths.

Thor was the first to react, lifting his hammer to the sky and calling lightening down to strike Thanos. As the bolt came down to strike Thanos, he lifted his right hand, which bore the gauntlet, and redirected the lightning at Loki. He was thrown back once more, his body leaving a trail in the dirt, and he couldn't move for a few seconds. The rest of the team then attacked as Loki got back to his feet. He gave his head a little shake to clear it. Well that hadn't happened in a while. The fact that he was used to it though was sad.

"Loki are you alright?" Dianne asked from where she floated in the air.

Loki nodded, "Not the first time I've been hit by lightning."

Assured that he was fine, Dianne then took off higher in the sky, where Stark currently was working on thinning out the Skrulls, a dozen quinjets in the air helping pick them off. Flying into the Skrulls, Dianne slapped a hand on their armor as she went zooming by, and the Skrull went to give chase, only to blow up seconds later. Their dismembered body parts went falling to the ground, where the others didn't notice what was going on above. Rosemary was trying to position herself to blast Thanos away from the others when body parts began landing around her. Letting out a scream, she jumped away, looked up, and screamed again as she continued to dodge the falling debris.

"What is this? This is gross!" Rosemary exclaimed.

Olyvia stopped her pursuit after Thanos to look over to her sister to see what she was going on about, only to have something land on her head. Olyvia just barely managed to suppress the urge to puke as she removed the Skrull leftovers off her.

"Ewww! Dianne! There are people down here!" Olyvia shouted up, hoping her sister could hear her, "Can't you be a little more careful?"

Either Dianne didn't hear her, or was simply ignoring her, continuing to charge the Skrull's armor and blow them up. Rosemary screamed again as she teleported away as more Skrull parts littered the air.

"It's raining Skrull goo!" Rosemary cried.

"This is disgusting," Olyvia grimaced.

Unfortunately, they didn't have the luxury of taking their time avoiding the raining body parts, and Olyvia did her best to ignore the falling debris, and returned her focus on Thanos, instructing Rosemary to do the same.

As the group closed in on Thanos, he aimed the gauntlet towards the Tesseract, which was still out in the open since Fury was unable to return it to its container. A surge of energy was extracted from the Tesseract, gathering together in the palm of Thanos's hand. He then turned to Fury, who was trying to remove the Tesseract, and sent the ball of energy at him. He was sent flying backwards, disappearing into the trees over fifty yards away. Again Thanos absorbed energy from the Tesseract, and unleashed it on the Hulk this time. The Hulk wasn't thrown back as far, but he crumpled to the ground, and the others could tell Bruce was trying his hardest not to revert back into his human form. Not only did he take out two team members, the injuries he had sustained were already healed, due to absorbing some of the Tesseract energy into himself.

"We need to keep the Tesseract away from Thanos!" Steve told the others.

"Destroy it is what we need to do," Olyvia said, "He'll still only absorb the energy! And someone grab it before Thanos gets it!"

Rosemary hopped right on it, appearing next to the Tesseract and snatched it from the device it sat on, just milliseconds before Thanos appeared as well. Letting out a powerful scream, Thanos went tumbling head over heels backwards, and Rosemary disappeared again, reappearing next to Olyvia.

"How are we going to destroy it?" Rosemary asked.

"Don't destroy it! We need it!" Natasha shouted to her.

"For what? Weapons? I don't think so," Steve shouted back, then turned to Olyvia, "If you can find a way to destroy it, do it."

Olyvia nodded, and Steve hurried over to help Thor and Loki fight Thanos. The titan saw that Rosemary held the Tesseract, and disappeared as Thor swung out with Mjulnir, aiming for his head. When Thanos appeared next to the girls, Olyvia punched him in the chest, but he didn't budge as she expected him to. Instead, he wrapped his hand around her wrist, and threw her aside. Rosemary wasn't about to stick around, and teleported away again, popping up near Olyvia once more.

"Again, destroy how?" Rosemary asked.

"I don't know…here, give it to me," Olyvia ordered.

Rosemary handed off the Tesseract, and Olyvia had to run as Thanos teleported after her.

"Dianne! Dianne get your butt down here!" Olyvia shouted.

Hearing Olyvia calling, Dianne altered her course and flew straight down to her sister.

"What?" Dianne asked.

"Catch!" Olyvia shouted, throwing the Tesseract to her sister.

Dianne lurched forward and caught the Tesseract, and quickly lifted it higher as Thanos suddenly appeared in front of her, reaching for the cube. Flying out of range, Dianne looked down to Olyvia.

"What do you want me to do with it?"

"Destroy it! If you can!" Olyvia replied.

Dianne felt a strange tug come from the Tesseract, and looking around, found Thanos was absorbing energy from it, right from her hands. Her eyes grew wide when she realized she was going to be his next target, and took off as Thanos sent a huge energy pulse her way. She was barely caught in it, and went flipping through the air before reorienting herself, shaking her head to stop it from spinning so much. Concentrating on the Tesseract again, she tried to put a charge into the Tesseract, but it wouldn't work. Whenever she put a charge into something, she could feel a sort of warm fire moving through her hands, but this time, nothing.

"It won't work!" Dianne shouted to Olyvia before taking off again as Thanos pursued her.

"What?" Olyvia exclaimed shrilly.

"Apparently the Tesseract isn't inanimate!" Dianne shouted back, "So take it back!"

Dianne threw the cube back to her sister, who had to lunge to catch it, only to be grabbed by Thanos a second later, wrapping his left hand around her neck, holding the gauntlet up to her face. Olyvia began kicking him in the gut, but it had no effect.

"The Tesseract is mine," he growled.

Suddenly Rosemary appeared on Thanos's arm, and wrapping her arms around the gauntlet, pushed herself off from his shoulder, the gauntlet slipping off his hand.

"I got it! I got the gauntlet!" Rosemary shouted victoriously as she scrambled away before teleporting even further.

Thanos roared in anger, before slamming Olyvia down onto the ground, causing her to see stars and loosen her hold on the Tesseract. Thanos reached down to pick it up, only to receive a shield to his face, a hammer to his gut, and a blast of magic through his hand. He recoiled back in pain, giving Olyvia enough time to grab the Tesseract again, and scamper away.

"Livy! Use the gauntlet to destroy the Tesseract!" Rosemary said, tossing her sister the gauntlet.

"What? Why me?" Olyvia asked, barely catching the huge gauntlet.

They didn't have time to discuss it as Thanos teleported over to them, and backhanded Olyvia across the face, sending her flying backwards. Again, lights went off in her head from the pain, and when she opened her eyes, saw Thanos right in front of her, an orb of energy forming in the palm of his hand. There was no chance of her dodging that, and though she could see Dianne flying towards her to try to help, she wouldn't be able to reach her in time. As for Rosemary, she wasn't sure where she was at the moment, so she did the only thing she could do. Slipping the gauntlet onto her right hand, it automatically formed to the size of her hand, and just as Thanos was about to release the orb of energy, she slammed the gauntlet down onto the Tesseract, shattering it. The energy blast from it was so powerful, it sent her and Thanos flying, and Dianne was even hit by it being fifty feet in the air. Rosemary, who had gotten closer to help her sister, also got caught in the blast, and went tumbling backwards. Getting to her feet, she looked around to see Olyvia fall back down onto the ground near the forest edge. Thanos fell not far from her, but he was noticeably weakened from the blast. Shakily getting to her feet, Olyvia turned to Thanos, and raised the gauntlet to face him.

"This is for ruining my house," she growled.

With a blast from the gauntlet, Thanos crumpled to the ground. He was probably dead, but Olyvia didn't stop there.

"And this is for sending Skrulls after us!" she shouted, with another blast from the gauntlet, "And this is for causing me to wreck my sister's car! And this is for kidnapping my sister! And this—."

"Livy, Livy!" Steve called out to her, grabbing her by her shoulders when he finally reached her, "It's alright, you can stop now. I think he's dead."

Olyvia glared at the black lump that was Thanos, seething in anger. She shot at him one last time, before slipping the gauntlet off and turned back to Steve, leaning into him as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I have a headache and I'm covered in Skrull gook," she mumbled.

Steve just shook his head, and returned the hug, "I'm glad that's all that happened. It could have been much worse."

Olyvia nodded in agreement. More Skrull parts could have landed on her. Oh, and she could have been stabbed too. That wouldn't have been good.

Standing there a few minutes, she finally pulled away, to find the rest of the group had made their way over to them. Except Fury, he still hadn't returned from where he disappeared into the woods.

"We did it," Rosemary said with a weary sigh, "We actually did it."

"Thanos is gone," Thor said, "We can all rest in peace again."

Loki sighed in relief. He no longer had to worry about the mad titan.

"The Tesseract is gone too," Natasha said, "I don't think Fury will be happy with that."

"Oh, who cares what Fury thinks," Olyvia said, "Now…Thor, is it you who will be taking the Infinity Gauntlet?"

Thor nodded, and Olyvia handed it over to him.

"My father will take care of this," Thor said.

"Like he did last time?" Loki asked skeptically.

"I know he will ensure that it won't fall into the wrong hands," Thor said, "There will be nothing to worry about brother."

Loki wasn't entirely sure about that, but he did know that Odin would try his best to keep it safe. Only time would tell whether it would work this time. Loki knew that Odin would most likely return to Midgard to take the infinity gauntlet, rather than Thor returning home with it, and if so…Loki had something he wanted to talk to him about.

"So who is going to look for Fury?" Stark asked, looking over to the assassins.

Natasha and Clint shared a look, silently debating over who should go, and after a few seconds, Clint sighed.

"I'll go find him."


	20. Chapter 20

**The last chapter! It's been quite the journey, but we've finally made it.**

**harrylee94: hahaha! Thank you.**

**Dr. Huff-Puff: Oh yeah the portal…fixed that for this chapter. Thanks for pointing that out.**

**Xandrea: Aww, why thank you! That means a lot to me. Thank you, thank you!**

**kakirovich: I just suck with battle scenes, they go by pretty quick. But…we shall see what the case really is…have I made you paranoid yet? :)**

**Meanxruki: Thank you so much!**

**CHAPTER TWENTY**

As Clint searched for Fury, the team dealt with the remainder of the Skrulls that had come through the portal before it had closed when Olyvia destroyed the Tesseract. Once they were dealt with, they regrouped at the quinjets, waiting for Clint and Fury. It was a good half hour before the two returned, Fury having sustained quite a few cuts and scrapes from his little trip into the woods. Now that everyone was back, they boarded the jets and flew back to the helicarrier, where everyone took the time to get themselves cleaned up before retiring for the evening. It was the following day that Thor tried to get in contact with Asgard, which took a few hours. He thought he was unsuccessful, and was intent on trying again later, when the S.H.I.E.L.D team detected another disturbance, which turned out to be Odin arriving. Fury and Thor went to speak with him, when Loki approached his brother and asked if he could come along. Thor was surprised that he wished to come along, but smiled and told his brother he'd like it if he would. It would "just be like the old days" as Thor put it. When the three entered the conference room, where Odin was waiting, he too was also surprised seeing Loki there, but pleasantly surprised and smiled upon seeing him.

"I see you have acquired the Infinity Gauntlet," Odin said, "What of the Tesseract?"

Thor and Loki looked at each other, before glancing over to Fury, who still had the same sour look on his face from when he first heard the fate of the Tesseract.

"The Tesseract was destroyed, father," Thor replied.

"I see," Odin said, "Perhaps that is for the best."

Fury huffed loudly, but said nothing. He still was of the opinion they could have used the Tesseract, but hardly anyone agreed with him now.

Thor handed the Infinity Gauntlet over to Odin, who proceeded to remove the gems from it. Once removed, the gauntlet seemingly disappeared as he swept his cloak over it.

"I will find a safer home for the gems to reside, as well as the gauntlet," Odin said, "Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to put the gems in the hands of some of your unique friends to watch over them, protect them."

"I can see to it that it is done," Fury said.

"Then I entrust these to you," Odin said, handing the gems over to Fury.

Loki thought what a bad move that was, but didn't voice his opinion. Odin didn't know what Fury was really like so it wasn't like Odin actually knew what he was doing and it being a bad idea. Again, he was just doing what he thought was best, and right. Funny how every time Odin did that it ended up going horribly wrong. Loki hoped this time that wouldn't be the case and they could live peacefully.

Fury and Odin shared a few more words before saying their goodbyes, and Fury left the room. The three Asgardians stood there in silence for a few moments, before Loki broke the silence.

"Odin…may I have a word with you before you go? Privately?" Loki asked, glancing over to Thor.

Getting the hint, Thor nodded to his brother as he made his way to the door and left, leaving Loki and his father alone to speak.

"What is it you wish to speak to me about?" Odin inquired.

"There is something I'd like to…ask of you," Loki replied, "But first…I want to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry it's taken me this long to realize you did what you did with raising me with pure intentions, never expecting to hurt me. I…may not be quite ready to forgive you, but I am sorry…father."

Loki could see Odin was becoming a little emotional as his eye began to water, his lips spreading into a smile. He was glad to have his son back.

"Thank you Loki…my son," Odin replied.

Silence fell once again in the room, Odin breaking it this time a few minutes later.

"So what is it you ask of me?" Odin asked.

"When you exiled Thor, you took away his powers, thus making him a mortal," Loki began, "What I ask…is if you would make me…mortal. That is what I ask of you."

Odin looked at Loki in surprise, "Mortal? But then you couldn't return to Asgard. Why—."

Odin stopped. He knew very well the reason why, from remembering the way Loki looked at that mortal girl the last time he was here. He wanted to stay with her.

"I see," Odin said sadly, "Do you not wish to return home."

"I believe this to be my home now," Loki replied, "And if you really do love me as you say you do, believe me to be your son, then you will do this for me."

Odin nodded, "Very well…but I caution you, because you are originally Jotun, it may not work as completely as it did for Thor."

"I understand," Loki replied.

"So you are certain about your choice, my son?" Odin asked, just to be sure that this truly was what Loki wanted.

"Never before have I been so certain about a choice as I am now," Loki replied, "This is what I want."

Odin nodded again, and raised his right hand, holding it palm facing out toward Loki, and then speaking gently, began, "I now relinquish you, Loki Odinson, of your powers."

Loki could feel the magic draining from him as his Asgardian mail began falling away, the same way it had happened to Thor.

"In the name of my father and his father before I, Odin All-Father, hereby send you to live out the remainder of your days…here, on Midgard," Odin finished, a bright light surrounding Loki for a brief moment before it was drawn from him and to Odin's hand.

Loki dropped down to a knee from exhaustion, having his powers being taken from him far more physically demanding than he expected. Taking a few moments to regain his energy, he then got back to his feet, and Odin closed the distance between them and placed a hand on Loki's shoulder.

"I wish only for your happiness, my son," Odin said, "That is all I've ever wanted."

"I am happy, father," Loki said.

Odin smiled, "And that is all that matters."

* * *

Leaving the conference room, Loki ran into Thor, to whom he briefly told what had just occurred, before continuing on his way as he looked for Dianne. She had received minimal injuries from the battle the day before and they were seen to when they returned from the helicarrier, so he knew she was no longer at the medical ward, unless she was visiting Olyvia, whom Bruce was keeping there as he ran tests. Since she was right next to the Tesseract when it gave off the blast of radiation, Bruce wanted to make sure she was alright. There was no telling what the radiation would do to her.

Walking past the medical ward just to check, Loki's assumption of Dianne not being there was correct, only seeing Olyvia and Steve inside, and continued on to the living quarters. Knocking on Dianne's door, it was opened a few seconds later.

"Hey, I was wondering when you'd show up," Dianne said, "You were going to help me pack, remember?"

Once the team had finished their paperwork, which Thor and Loki needed help on because they just didn't understand the concept, people were there, they saw what happened, it was time for the Harris sisters to pack up their things and return home, and Loki had promised to help Dianne with that. Rosemary was absolutely ecstatic, not only to see Juan again, but to be home in time for Thanksgiving. Dianne had finished her paperwork that morning, and Loki could see she had only just started packing.

"There was someone I had to see first," Loki replied, "I'm sure you were aware that my father had arrived."

"Huh? Oh, yes right your—," Dianne stopped, and a smile broke out across her face. She was glad to hear he was calling Odin his father once more. She assumed they had finally rekindled their relationship.

"So how did that go?" Dianne asked.

Loki bent down and scooped Nelly up as she tried to dart out of the room, and handed her over to Dianne as he went ahead and stepped inside, closing the door behind him to prevent further cat escaping attempts, "That is part of the reason why I'm here."

Dianne set Nelly down on top of the dresser before moving to sit down on the edge of the bed, giving Loki her undivided attention. He sat down next to her, and gently took her hands with his.

"Dianne," Loki began, "I asked my father to take my powers from me, so I could be mortal…like you."

Dianne's eyes widened in shock, and it took her a few moments before she could speak, "I'm not your average mortal though, remember? So…are you like me or…not like me?"

"As far as I know…I'm not sure," Loki said, "I could still have Jotun abilities or…have none at all."

"But…why would you do that?" Dianne asked, "I thought…you liked being your trickster, magical self."

"Is it not obvious?" Loki asked lowly, "I did it, so I can be with you."

"Loki—," Dianne began, but she was cut off when Loki pulled her in for a kiss.

"I love you Dianne," Loki whispered when he broke away, "And I want to be with you, for as long as you'll have me."

Dianne's lips spread into a smile as she gazed lovingly into Loki's emerald eyes, "I love you too Loki, and that won't change anytime soon."

They kissed again, before Dianne then cuddled up against Loki's chest, enjoying the moment before she ruined it by asking a few minutes later, "So…just out of curiosity, where will you go? When we return home?"

Loki paused, "I…hadn't really thought about that."

"Well…you'll have to figure it out soon, because I doubt my mom will let you live in the barn again," Dianne said laughingly.

"I'll figure out something," Loki assured her, "I don't want to be stuck out there anyway."

* * *

Olyvia waited impatiently for Bruce to return from his lab with the news of her clean bill of health. She felt fine, once she took pain meds for the splitting headache she had, and she wanted to hurry up and finish her stupid paperwork so she could get started on packing. She had a lot of packing to do. She was grateful though for Steve staying at her side the whole time in the medical ward, it made the waiting that much more tolerable.

"So what are your plans after this?" Olyvia asked Steve as she traced lazy circles on the back of his hand, "I know you live in Brooklyn so are you going to go back there or…what?"

"I'm not exactly sure," Steve replied, "You're going to be returning home and California is just… so far away."

"My thoughts exactly," Olyvia said quietly.

Steve was silent for a few minutes as he pondered over what to do. It wasn't like he had anything to do in Brooklyn, other than sit in his apartment and try to figure out the functions of the new technology, and on his own. And the only "job" he had was at S.H.I.E.L.D, and they only called him in when he was needed, he could…take a long vacation from the east coast.

"How would you feel about me going back to California with you for a while?" Steve asked.

Olyvia smiled, "I'd love it. You could even stay for Thanksgiving! That'd be fun."

"I'd like that."

"Question is, where will you stay?"

"I'll figure something out," Steve said, "You don't need to worry about that."

Olyvia nodded, and then perked up when she saw Bruce enter the room. Walking over to her bedside, he proceeded to tell her what he found, which was that there was radiation damage done to her cells, particularly her brain cells, but there was so sign of any cell mutation, and she didn't portray any of the side effects he expected. As much as he would prefer she not go anywhere until he determined that she was completely fine, he knew she would just about kill him if she couldn't go home. So she was discharged, and Olyvia gave Steve a quick kiss goodbye before racing to her room to finish up that paperwork waiting on her desk so she could start packing. She wanted to go home. And she was super excited that Steve would be going with her.

* * *

By the end of the day, the girls were completely packed up and ready to go, the prospect of going home having imbued them with super human speed somehow. It was agreed that they would leave tomorrow morning, and the girls knew they wouldn't be able to sleep that night from the anxiety. Before they retired to their rooms that evening, Stark called a meeting for the whole group, wanting to have a few words with all of them while they were still all together.

"This better be quick, because I'm tired," Olyvia said as she sat down, yawning to emphasize her point.

"That's debatable," Stark said, "because we're here to discuss something that I've been thinking on for some time."

"And what's that?" Dianne asked, eager to go to bed as well.

"Well, the rest of us have our own code names, while you three don't," Stark began.

"Oh God, here we go," Olyvia groaned, dropping her head onto the table with a loud _thunk_, making Steve cringe. It sounded like she gave herself another concussion. Lifting up her head, she gave Stark such a severe death glare, everyone could practically see lasers coming out of her eyes.

"I swear to _God_ Stark, if you make one mention of the she-hulk, I'm going to castrate you, shove the appendage down your throat and make sure you choke on it!" Olyvia threatened.

"I'm not, I promise," Stark said, then added under his breath, "Though it would be rather fitting for your one power _and_ temper."

"What was that?" Olyvia asked, having just barely caught what he said.

"Nothing," Stark replied.

"Stark, just get on with it already," Natasha said exasperatedly. She wanted to retire for the evening as well.

"Okay, okay," Steve relented, and turned to Olyvia, "Livy."

"I know of a thousand ways to kill you with just a piece of paper I'll have you know," Olyvia threatened.

"Really?" Stark asked.

"Enough stalling you two," Dianne sighed, resting her head on her folded arms.

"Okay!" Stark said exasperatedly, "If Livy would just stop interrupting me. Anyway, I thought a befitting code name for you would be Virtuoso, since you can practically do anything related to sound and music."

Olyvia thought over it for a few seconds, "You know what, that isn't too bad. I was expecting something much more embarrassing or stupid."

"Like She-hulk?" Stark muttered.

"Yeah, like that," Olyvia replied darkly, glaring at Stark once again.

Stark turned to Rosemary, "As for you, I think I have the perfect one for you."

"Annoying?" Dianne ventured a guess, "Midget, her usual nickname?"

"Oh, no, the Harbinger of Deaf!" Olyvia said, and everyone just stared at her, "Sorry, my dad's humor has rubbed off on me. I won't do it again. Don't know why I said it anyway."

"Anywho," Stark said, trying to get things going again, "Yours is going to be Banshee."

"Hmm…I like it," Rosemary said, "Sounds creepy."

"They are creepy," Olyvia said, "At least in Fable. Not as creepy as Balvarines though. Ugh, hate Balverines."

Steve looked over at Olyvia in confusion, wondering what the heck she was talking about now. Looking at the others, a few looked quite confused as well. At least he wasn't the only one at the moment.

When Stark turned to Dianne, she sighed.

"I am so not looking forward to hearing what you came up with for me," she groaned.

"What do you think of…sparky-sparky boom girl?"

Olyvia and Rosemary burst into a fit of laughter while Dianne reached over and whacked Tony in the arm, making him cringe.

"You've seen it," Dianne said with a slight smile, before whacking him again, "But no."

"Ow…okay, okay, I just wanted to see what you thought about that one," Stark said, "I thought it was funny."

"It was a little funny, but no," Dianne repeated, "So being serious now."

"What do you think about Destroyer?" Stark asked, "It's a name of a fighter plane, I thought it would suit you."

Dianne pursed her lips as she thought over it, "I guess it'll work. So can we go to bed now?"

Stark sighed, "Yes, you can go to bed."

* * *

After managing to fall asleep for a few hours, the girls woke at seven the following morning, and began transporting their belongings to the quinjet that would be taking them back home. Steve helped out Rosemary, since Olyvia could handle carrying her heavy load, and Loki had few things he was taking, so he ended up helping Dianne with hers once he had finished with his own.

"So Loki is coming with?" Olyvia asked Dianne when she ran into her at the quinjet dropping off her load.

Dianne nodded, a huge grin on her face, "Yep. I don't know where he'll be living, but he's coming."

Olyvia was glad to hear it, that he would be coming along. And S.H.I.E.L.D was okay with it too because now he no longer had his powers. The news of Loki having his powers taken away had reached everyone within the first hour of it happening, and most of the Avengers were shocked by it. Olyvia thought it was so romantic of him to do that, so he could stay with her sister and was glad he was coming. She couldn't help but wonder where things would lead between Dianne and Loki, whether they would stay together, or eventually drift apart. For her sister's sake, she hoped it was the former. They were just too darn stinking cute together, they better stay that way, or else a certain used-to-be-Norse-God was going to be in a world of hurt.

Once their belongings were loaded onto the quinjet, Fury approached the girls, Loki, and Steve, saying a brief goodbye and telling them to expect to be called in if another emergency arose. The girls just rolled their eyes. It would only depend on how busy their lives would be. They couldn't just drop anything to come back here to help Fury. The director then handed them envelopes, Loki's being a huge orange envelope, which the girls and Loki were just confused as to what they were for. Tucking them away, they said their goodbyes to the rest of their team, Stark getting particularly teary eyed when saying goodbye to Rosemary. Those two really had formed quite a friendship. Once those were said and done, they boarded the quinjet, and as it took off, Olyvia decided to see what was inside the envelope. Her eyes widened as she read the amount of money that was on the check inside.

"I can afford college now!" Olyvia exclaimed, "Southern Oregon University, here I come!"

* * *

It was a teary welcome when the girls arrived home, their mother nearly squeezing them to death from how happy she was to see them. They were only allowed to bring their things inside before Brenda demanded they tell her all that had happened. It took a few hours for the whole story to be told, and by the end of it, Brenda was horrified, as well as pissed off even more at Fury.

"You will never, ever, _ever_ do anything for him again," Brenda ordered her daughters.

"Don't particularly want to," Dianne said.

"We did get quite the handsome paycheck though," Olyvia said, "That's a plus."

Brenda pursed her lips. She didn't think any amount of money was worth putting your life on the line. Loki still had yet to open his bulging envelope, a little nervous about what may be inside. Now that the girls were done telling their story to their mom, Dianne coaxed Loki into finally opening the envelope. Looking through it, nothing inside made sense to Loki, while Dianne just stared in shock.

"Oh my gosh, S.H.I.E.L.D created an identity for you," Dianne said, looking through the certificates, "Wow…that was…nice of them. I guess they didn't care to give you a different name though so you are still Loki Odinson…that will be fun trying to explain to people. Yeah, my parents were Norse Mythology nuts."

"What?" Loki asked in confusion.

"I'll explain later," Dianne sighed. This would take a long, long, _long_, time.

* * *

It didn't take long for Steve and Loki to find somewhere to crash while they were back in California. S.H.I.E.L.D still had the house in the town, and gave them permission to stay there, so Steve and Loki were now rooming together for the time being. After just one hour, Steve realized how lost Loki was here, and he thought _he_ had problems with the technology. It was going to be _fun_ living together not knowing how things worked.

On Thanksgiving day, the two guys headed over to the Harris's house, using a vehicle S.H.I.E.L.D also provided to them, and standing at the front door as Steve knocked, they could already smell the aroma of food cooking.

"They're already cooking?" Loki asked, "It's…eleven in the morning."

"That's typical of a Thanksgiving day," Steve said, "My mom would get up at six to start cooking."

Loki looked at Steve curiously. Who would spend so much time making a meal? Was it really that large and grandiose that it took so long to prepare?

They heard what sounded like a stampede coming to the door, before the door was thrown open by Olyvia, who had Dianne on her back, trying to reach for the door.

"Hey Steve," Olyvia said, smiling up at her boyfriend before turning to Loki, "And hi Loki."

Dianne jumped off her sister's back, pushed her aside and threw her arms around Loki in a huge bear hug, almost knocking him over in the process. Olyvia was much less enthusiastic with her greeting as she stood up on her tip-toes to plant a quick kiss on Steve's lips before grabbing him by his hand and pulling him inside.

"Inside you two, I'm not going to keep the door open," Olyvia said to her sister, who was still squeezing the life out of Loki, "Geez, you act like you haven't seen him in months."

"It's been fifteen hours, it's been _forever_!" Dianne exclaimed dramatically.

With a sigh, Olyvia swung the door to shut, and Dianne quickly released Loki and placed her hand against the door before it shut all the way, pushing it back open and letting him in before entering herself. Rosemary came running over, said a quick hi, then bye, and took off again.

"That was…fast," Loki muttered.

"She's a little preoccupied," Dianne said, "Juan has been texting non-stop this morning."

"That stupid jingle is so annoying! I wish she would change it!" Olyvia wailed from the kitchen.

Loki looked over to Dianne in confusion, having no clue what Olyvia was referring to, and Dianne patted him on the shoulder.

"Her phone makes a certain sound whenever she receives a text, which I've explained to you a few times before," Dianne said, "And with it constantly going off, it's getting annoying."

Okay, so now what Olyvia said made sense. Loki followed Dianne into the kitchen to watch what she was doing, the same thing Steve was doing, since neither of them were allowed to help the girls. Olyvia was currently rolling out a pie crust, while Dianne went back to mixing a pumpkin pie filling.

After an hour in the kitchen, the girls were finally given permission by their mother to go for the time being, she wouldn't need their help for a few hours. Olyvia put on a coat to go out and play with Oscar for a while, Steve following her outside, while Dianne drug Loki into the living room to play some video games. It was while Steve was outside that he realized someone was missing.

"Is your father going to be here?"

Olyvia threw the Frisbee before replying, "No. He's still taking care of grandma, and she doesn't like being away from her house. It's the one thing she basically remembers now. Mom is going to go up there tomorrow and have a Thanksgiving with him, while we're going to stay here, keep an eye on the place."

Oscar came running back with the Frisbee, and tossed it back to Olyvia, hitting her in the thigh before she reached down and picked it up off the ground.

"So you still haven't seen him yet," Steve said.

Olyvia's face fell as she threw the Frisbee again, "No…and I miss him terribly. This is the first Thanksgiving he hasn't been here. The first time we haven't had a barbequed turkey. And that tastes the best. Rosemary is beside herself that the turkey isn't being barbequed."

"I've…never even heard of anyone doing that," Steve said.

"Well, maybe next year…if we're still together that is, you'll get to try it," Olyvia said.

"It's a date then," Steve said with a smile.

Olyvia returned the smile with one of her own, only to have Oscar head-butt her knees since she hadn't been paying attention to him for a few seconds. Tossing the Frisbee, Olyvia used the time Oscar spent running after it and catching it to give Steve a hug and another kiss. She and Steve stayed outside until Oscar was panting heavily and Olyvia's fingers were frozen. Returning to the house, they found Dianne trying to educate Loki in the way of the Xbox 360. Still.

"Hey, Livy, could you help us out?" Dianne asked seeing her sister had returned, "You know the Xbox better than I do."

"Sure, sounds fun," Olyvia said, "As long as Steve gets to join in."

"What?" Steve asked, "I-I…no, I think I'll just sit out."

"You have seventy years of technology to catch up on, you are going to play," Olyvia said, placing a controller in Steve's hand.

Steve groaned. He considered this a childish thing to do, but…Olyvia apparently enjoyed it, and he guessed it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

* * *

Steve and Loki were so glad when Brenda gave her daughters more things to do to prepare for dinner. They both were horrendous at the game Dianne and Olyvia attempted teaching them. Neither was too interested in it, but since the girls were, they would at least try to tolerate it. By four o'clock, the feast was ready, and they sat down at the table, and said a prayer over the food before digging in. As expected, Steve had thirds of everything, due to his raging appetite, and Rosemary sort of stared in horror as he kept piling the food on his plate. Olyvia had to remind her not to stare about five times before she finally stopped. Olyvia was surprised though that he still had room for dessert afterwards.

After the meal all but Rosemary just lazed about in the living room, too full to do anything else, and just talked with each other, Rosemary occasionally coming out into the living room asking how to spell a word when replying to a text from Juan before wandering off again. Some of the words she asked the spelling of made the others wonder what sort of conversation she and Juan were having.

The time went by far too fast for the girls liking, and they reluctantly said goodbye to Steve and Loki once it had gotten dark. Once they left, Dianne and Olyvia sat down on the couch, staring at the wall.

"Things are starting to feel normal again," Olyvia said.

"Things are never normal with us," Dianne pointed out.

"True," Olyvia agreed, "Then I like life not being normal but being as normal as it can get since we aren't at S.H.I.E.L.D right now and being attacked by aliens."

Dianne looked over at her sister with a pause before saying, "None of that made sense."

"It made sense in my head," Olyvia mumbled as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the couch.

"How? You know what, never mind, I don't want to even hear an explanation."

"To put it simply, today was a good day."

Now that Dianne could agree to, it was a very good day. She looked forward to more days like this.

* * *

The Harris family went about their lives as November gave way to December, the cold chill of winter hitting hard on the first week. Olyvia complained about the weather, Dianne didn't care, and Rosemary begged for snow. In all the years the family had been there, they had only ever had a few white Christmases. The snowfall usually waited until late January to either sprinkle a light dusting over the town, or bury it in two feet of snow. Steve remained in California as Olyvia prepared to move to Oregon for college, which she was already enrolled into and would be moving a few days after Christmas so she could be with her family for the holiday, as well as not miss Rosemary's birthday because she demanded she stay for it. After she moved though, Steve would have to go back to Brooklyn, there were things there he had to do, and Fury asked, well…more like demanded, that he be nearby the Helicarrier, which would always stay on the east coast somewhere, in case any other problems arose.

Loki was settling into living as a mortal, having gotten used to the creations there, and was actually helping Steve with a few things, such as the microwave. Steve still hadn't quite figured that one out. Loki spent most of his time with Dianne, who was trying to figure out whether she wanted to try to get into the University she wanted to attend to get the degree she had been working toward. It wasn't like working at S.H.I.E.L.D was a full time job, they would only call her when needed, so she was debating on whether to finish up her degree, and get a job to have the income coming in. She doubted S.H.I.E.L.D would continue paying her while she wasn't doing anything for them.

Becoming much more comfortable with the world he was now in, Loki decided to do something that he had been thinking about for quite some time, and though he was sure some may think it be too soon, he knew it was something he was ready for. He just needed some help so he wouldn't screw things up, and though he hated asking for help, he headed over to the Harris's early one day, and instead of knocking on the door, went around back to the barn where he knew Olyvia would be. Oscar ran over to him when he first entered the back yard, growling in warning, but stopped when he recognized Loki and went trotting back to the back deck. Entering the barn, Loki had guessed the time correctly, seeing Olyvia tossing hay into the stall bins for the horses.

"Oh, hey Loki," Olyvia greeted when she saw him, "If you're looking for Dianne, she should be inside. Probably still sleeping, but she should be in there."

"Actually…I need to talk to you."

Olyvia tossed some hay into Kit's bin, before turning to Loki, "Me? What about?"

"I need your help with something, for Dianne."

Olyvia thought over it for a few seconds before her lips curled up in a smile, "I'm listening."

* * *

A week later, five inches of snow covered the small town, and Olyvia was muttering complaints about the white abomination as she curled up in front of the woodstove, dressed in sweats, long sleeved shirt, sweater, knee high socks, slippers and had her fleece blanket wrapped around her, the top of her head only poking out from the fleece mound. Poor Steve was trying to cuddle with her, but she was making it difficult, having just about a dozen layers between him and her.

"Livy, it really isn't that cold in here," Steve said, wondering how she wasn't dying under all that.

"It's not, but I'm freezing," Olyvia replied, lifting her head out from the mound just enough so her voice wasn't muffled, "Dad made me dig out the driveway so he could get to the store. We needed milk."

The girls' dad had arrived a few days ago, bringing their grandmother with him so he could be with his family for Christmas. They were glad to have him back for the most part, until it started snowing and he started giving them chores, such as digging out the driveway, and bringing in more wood for the fireplace so they could keep the house heated.

"You've been sitting there for the last half hour, I'm sure you've thawed out by now," Steve replied.

"Is someone feeling neglected?" Olyvia asked.

"Maybe just a little," Steve replied quietly.

Getting to her feet, she coaxed Steve to his as well before moving him over to the nearest couch, sat him down, and opening up the blanket, sat down on his lap and threw her arms and blanket around his neck.

"Ooh, you're warm," Olyvia said as she nuzzled into his chest, "I should have done this earlier."

"And you are still freezing," Steve said as he grabbed Olyvia's hands and moved them away from his neck, "Sorry for not believing you."

"And cold hands to the back of your neck is what you get for that," Olyvia said, putting her hands back against his neck.

Steve shivered, but didn't even try removing her hands again. They would eventually warm up. After around five minutes, they finally did, and Olyvia was starting to feel a little drowsy.

"Better?" Steve asked quietly.

Olyvia lifted her head to look Steve in the eye, "Yes, thank you."

Leaning in, she gave Steve a kiss, who then wrapped his hand around the back of her neck as he started to deepen it, but was abruptly brought back to reality when he heard someone clear their throat. Leaning a few inches away from Olyvia, Steve craned his head around to see her father standing not ten feet away in the entryway into the hallway, looking at them disapprovingly. Steve's stomach began to twist itself into knots. Now he wasn't afraid of many things, but Olyvia's dad scared him. He just…was scary, and Steve knew the guy wouldn't hesitate to hurt him if he did anything he didn't like.

Getting the message from the glare she was receiving, Olyvia hopped off Steve's lap, took back the blanket, and settled with just leaning up against her boyfriend. Once she had done that, her dad slowly disappeared back into the hallway, probably going back to the computer room to play FreeCell. A few minutes later Dianne and Loki came in from out front, apparently having just finished digging out the area Allen had assigned to Dianne.

"Brr cold," Dianne shivered, "Want some hot cocoa Loki?"

"Sure," Loki replied.

As Loki followed Dianne to the kitchen, he glanced over to Olyvia, who was giving him an expectant look before eyeing over to her sister, then back to him. Loki's cheeks flushed red as his heart did a little flip, understanding the silent message. He said nothing, and averted his gaze as he continued into the kitchen. He took a seat at the kitchen table as Dianne got out the mugs and cocoa mix packets. After a few minutes of waiting for the water to heat up, Dianne made up the cocoa and handed Loki his as she took a seat next to him, blowing lightly on hers to cool it down a little. Once there wasn't so much steam rising up from the mug, she began sipping the warm liquid, feeling the heat travel down her throat and into her stomach, warming up her whole chest.

"Ah, that hit the spot," Dianne said with a sigh when she finished her cup.

Loki was only halfway done with his, and he strummed his fingers anxiously against the ceramic mug as he pondered over what to do next. He knew what he _wanted_ to do, but whether he had the guts to actually do it, that was debatable. As he finished up the last of the cocoa, he was thinking over what to say to Dianne when he jumped hearing a door slam. Peering through the kitchen entryway, he saw Rosemary run in and throw a small snowball at Olyvia, who screeched when she was hit by it, before she teleported over to the door, and ran back outside.

"Oh you are so dead Midget!" Olyvia shouted.

Looking around the wall, Dianne saw her sister throw the blanket off of her and kicked off her slippers as she reached for her boots.

"Come on Steve, we have a Midget to kill," Olyvia seethed, tossing Steve's boots over to him.

Steve hesitantly pulled them on, and Olyvia didn't even bother with a jacket as she ran to the door to catch up with her sister. Dianne chuckled to herself as she sat back down in her seat. That was going to be an interesting snowball fight. Steve followed out a little later, taking Olyvia's jacket and gloves with him, since he knew she'd be regretting it within a few minutes.

"You want to help Livy get Rosemary? Or just watch?" Dianne asked Loki.

"Actually…if you're feeling up to it, could we just…go on a walk? Just to get away from this chaos for a short while?" Loki asked in reply.

"Sure," Dianne said, "As long as I don't have to shovel a path."

Loki chuckled, "No, we don't have to do that."

"Oh, wait, I know, we can take the horses out on a ride," Dianne said, "That way our feet won't freeze."

"If that is what you want," Loki said.

Dianne nodded, "I'll go ask Livy if you can ride Cara."

Heading to the front door, Dianne carefully poked her head out, looking around for her sister. She saw her by the edge of the house, trying to pin Rosemary down to throw a beach ball sized snowball at her. Getting her attention, she asked her about borrowing Cara for a while, and Olyvia gave her permission to do so. Dianne shut the door in time to avoid two snowballs thrown at her by Rosemary, which then gave Olyvia the chance to drop the large snowball on her.

"She said it was okay, so let's go," Dianne said, grabbing her boots and quickly pulling them back on.

Once dressed in their winter attire, they headed out to the barn, getting the horses ready for the ride. It was about fifteen minutes later that they were ready to go, and the two walked the horses side-by-side on the snow covered trail that led out into the woods that Dianne knew by heart. A few minutes out, Dianne took in a deep breath, a pleasant smile on her face.

"I love the snow," Dianne commented, "The world is just so quiet, and peaceful. And when it's covered by fresh fallen snow, it looks so beautiful."

"It certainly is different than the way Jotunheim looks. It's much more inviting here," Loki commented, before looking over to Dianne, "Much more beautiful too."

Dianne blushed, her lips curling up in a smile. Her chest was always filled with butterflies whenever Loki complimented her like that.

They talked idling about whatever came to mind for nearly twenty minutes before they reached the ridge, where the depth of the snow was about seven to eight inches. It had stopped snowing, and since they were on the ridge, had a clear view of the area. The dark clouds were breaking slightly in areas, and streams of sunlight filtered through, lighting up the white land before them. It was quite a breathtaking sight. After a few minutes of just admiring the view, Dianne turned to Loki.

"You want to head back yet, or wait here a few more minutes?"

"Actually…I'd like to stay," Loki said, dismounting the horse, "Walk around a little to get feeling back in my legs."

Dianne nodded in agreement, "Yeah, the cold really does numb them quite a bit."

Dismounting as well, she joined Loki at his side, taking a hold of his hand as they began to walk along the ridge, holding the reigns of the horses in their other hand to keep them close so they wouldn't end up wandering off. Keeping his eyes ahead of him, he thought over what he wanted to say, but when he turned back to Dianne, his mind went completely blank. He just couldn't think whenever he looked at her, thought of her, or if he even heard her voice. Everything she did made it difficult for his brain to function properly. Dianne noticed him staring, and she looked over at him in some concern.

"Everything alright Loki?" she asked.

Loki stopped, so she did as well, "Yes…I'm just…I was thinking."

"About?" Dianne questioned.

Loki took in a deep breath, before gazing straight into Dianne's jade eyes, the eyes that he became lost in every time he looked at her.

"There is something…I've wanted to say…to ask you," Loki began, for once unable to clearly speak, that quick tongue of his twisted into knots, "It's only been three months that we've known each other, but in that time…I've never grown so close to someone, grown to love someone, as I have to you."

Dianne smiled, the butterflies beating away in her stomach and all the way up her chest and into her throat, choking up a little because of Loki's sentiments.

"I love you more than life itself Dianne," Loki continued, "And I can't imagine living this mortal life…without you."

Not caring that the snow was past his ankles, he dropped down onto one knee as he reached into a pocket in his jacket, and removed a small black box. Dianne's hands flew up to her face as she gasped. Was this honestly happening?

"Dianne Heather Harris," Loki began opening the box to reveal a delicate silver colored band with a single princess cut diamond set in the middle, and four smaller diamonds set into the band on either side of the main one, "Will you marry me?"

Dianne couldn't breathe for a few seconds, the shock of this causing her whole body to shut down. Shakily lowering her hands away from her face, a smile of pure joy and love spread across her face, her entire demeanor just lighting up. And the one word she managed to utter, sent Loki's heart soaring.

"Yes."

* * *

**The End! First chapter of the sequel, called "Altered" is up now! See you there!**


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